Maldives crisis ‘our internal matter’
Maldives has been in deep political turmoil since February 1 with India ‘disturbed’ and seeking President Yameen to abide by court orders that sought release of political prisoners, including former President Nasheed. However, Maldives has claimed it is an internal matter and any intervention through sanctions will only make the people of the island nation suffer. In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Maldivian envoy to India Ahmed Mohamed also invoked the ‘foreign hand’ behind current developments. Smita Sharma spoke to Ahmed Mohamed.
With the clampdown of emergency, there seems to be no semblance of democracy in Maldives anymore.
To maintain peace, security and law and order, the President has constitutional powers with in the democratic system to declare the state of emergency. Emergency does not mean there is no democracy.
With the arrest of the Chief Justice and a senior judge of the Supreme Court, an ex-President and firing of police chief — it looks like a dictatorship and no respect to democratic values.
For some it may seem like that but we need to go deeper into what led to the situation. Just one fine evening an order came out from Supreme Court saying the Judicial Service Commission has no power to investigate or take disciplinary action against Supreme Court judges overriding the constitution. The constitution clearly says the commission is an independent authority.
