The members of the party that ruled the Maldives for 30 years who were accused of running a dictatorial regime are now accusing the current government which defeated them last year of being undemocratic.
The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) led by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom held its first news conference to the international media and the Sri Lankan media on Friday to launch its international awareness programme on the ‘opposition movement’ being conducted in the Maldives.
A team of delegates from the Maldivian opposition, led by Umar Naseer of the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), is in Sri Lanka to brief the international media and ambassadors residing in the country of the current political and economic situation of the country.
According to Ali Waheed an MP of the DRP the present government is failing to deliver on its promises made when it campaigned for elections. “President Mohamed Nasheed campaigned for change and democracy when he went for elections, just like in America, but instead of an Obama we got a Hitler. We have no freedom in the country. Free assembly is not possible, there is gross violation of media freedom and the economy of the country is going downhill steadily and the government should be answerable for all this,” he said.
According to Waheed the opposition cannot hold meetings or hold peaceful demonstrations in the country and the government has started controlling all the state media to ‘attack the opposition and mask the shortcomings of the government’.
“If we go for a talk show and come out of the TV station there are hundreds of people sent by the government ready to attack us. We cannot hold any opposition demonstrations as we are attacked and our leaders arrested. The government said it will establish democracy but in the end we have got a dictatorship,” Mr. Waheed said.
However, Mr. Ali Hussein Didi, the High Commissioner of the Maldives in Sri Lanka said that no such situation has arisen in the Maldives. “There was one time when the police had to use tear gas to disperse a crowd who were protesting in front of former president Gayoom when he was to present himself at the police station. This was the only incident,” he said.
When asked about the Maldivian government’s position on the DRP’s decision to carry out the opposition campaign in Sri Lanka the High Commissioner stated that a multiparty democratic system is in place and that this type of campaign is possible in the country itself.
“They have no need to operate as a de facto political party. They are free to conduct political activities in the country itself. If they want to launch it in Sri Lanka and target the international media and the international community then it is up to them to conduct their political campaign in any manner they please,” he said. |
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