Maldives: Troops asked to block move to arrest prez
ISLAND TROUBLE Armed troops push back oppn MP’s attempt to hold meeting NEW DELHI
: The political crisis in the Maldives deepened on Sunday with a desperate government ordering troops to resist any move by the Supreme Court to arrest or impeach President Abdulla Yameen over his refusal to release opposition leaders from jail as the court ordered.
New Delhi is keeping a close watch on the unfolding events, the biggest threat to President Yameen’s control of the Maldives since he took power in 2013, after it urged for neighbour to “respect and abide” by the court ruling to release the political prisoners.
The country’s attorney general Mohamed Anil said the government had received information that the top court was preparing to impeach the president, warning that such a move would be resisted by law enforcement authorities.
“We have received information that things might happen that will lead to a national security crisis. The information says the Supreme Court might issue a ruling to impeach or remove the president from power,” he said. Parliament secretary general Ahmed Mohamed resigned on Sunday, citing personal reasons a day before the legislature begins session.
As the government of the strategically located island nation, home to about 400,000 people, prepared a crackdown, police detained two opposition lawmakers on Sunday.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said its MPs tried to stage a meeting in defiance of a weekend order suspending parliament, but they were pushed back by armed troops. Security forces have been deployed inside the parliament from March last year when Yameen ordered them to evict dissident lawmakers.
The crisis deepened after the apex court last week quashed terrorism convictions against former president Mohamed Nasheed and others who have been working to oust the president for years. The US and India have urged Yameen to heed the court decision on Nasheed, the island’s first democratically elected president, and the others, but he is yet to do so.
The Supreme Court had ordered the release of nine dissidents and the reinstating of 12 legislators who had been sacked for defecting from Yameen’s party, saying the cases against them were politically motivated.
But the Yameen government has so far refused to comply with the shock ruling, resisting international pressure to respect the decision. The court’s reinstatement of the legislators gave the opposition a majority in the 85-member assembly, and it can now potentially impeach Yameen.
But authorities shut parliament indefinitely on Saturday to prevent such a move. Yameen also sacked two police chiefs after the court’s decision.
Nasheed described the government’s refusal to obey the Supreme Court as a “coup”. The former president, who was controversially convicted of a terrorism charge and jailed for 13 years in 2015, urged police and troops to uphold the constitution.