Author: Ahmed Nazeer

MCSA calls on the resignation of Home Minister

The Maldives Civil Servants Association (MCSA) has called on the Home Minister Mohamed Shihab to resign from his post after the Home ministry declared that island councilors will be head of the island offices during the Local Council Elections.

Spokesperson of the MCSA Abdulla Mohamed said that the decision of the home ministry was “against the advice of President Mohamed Nasheed” and “also unconstitutional.”

“It shows the irresponsibility of the minister,’’ said Abdulla. “It will influence the outcome of the Local Council Elections and will obstruct them from being conducted freely.”

Abdulla said that he was not saying all the councilors act against the interests of democracy.

“But it is the nature of humans – they are political appointees appointed by politicians and their duty will be to uphold the policy of their head,’’ Abdulla claimed. “When they take over the island office, they will become a ‘shadow’ on a free democratic election.’’

He said the decision also showed that the home minister wanted to influence on the Local Council Elections and suggested Shihab resign “if he is unwilling to follow the constitution.”

State Home Minister Ahmed Adil said he could not comment on the issue, while Home Minister Mohamed Shiahab was unavailable at time of press.

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Parliament immobilised for third week running over cabinet endorsement issue

The parliament sitting today was again cancelled this morning, with the political deadlock over the cabinet endorsement issuing immobilising the legislative branch of government for the third week runnig.

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid canceled the sitting and suggested the political parties come to an understanding over the cabinet endorsement issue, the same request he made last week.

The previous sitting was also canceled after the opposition and ruling party MPs clashed over the issue of cabinet endorsement, and MPs refused to debate other bills.

The opposition and the ruling party MPs have been continuously blaming each other for parliament’s repeated cancellation.

Opposition MPs claim that the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs were declining to follow the parliament’s rules of procedure and alleged they were trying to influence parliamentary proceedings.

Opposition MPs have demanded individual approval of each member of the cabinet, and announced that they intend to disapprove six current cabinet ministers.

However, MDP MPs believe that the parliament should amend the rules of procedure and shall give consent to the cabinet as a whole rather than voting individually, as the no-confidence motion already exists.

President Mohamed Nasheed has said in his weekly radio address that although the parliament voted to dismiss any member of the cabinet, they will still remain in office, despite parliament’s disapproval.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan once again said that MDP MPs were deliberately forcing the speaker to cancel the parliament by constantly creating point of orders, to try and dismiss the cabinet endorsement issue from parliament’s agenda.

”After what the president said during his radio address, we were comforted at the thought that MDP MPs would remain silent as they were told and would let the cabinet endorsement issue continue,” said Nihan. ”We condemn this act of the ruling party, it is regrettable that the parliament has malfunctioned for nearly three weeks now.”

Nihan said there was a lot of other work that the parliament needs to complete.

”There will be the budget that has to be passed by the end of November, work on the Tax Bill is also at a halt, and the committee meetings as well,” he said.

He called on all the political parties to discuss the issue and to arrive to a common understanding so that the parliament could reinstate its work.

President Nasheed said during his weekly radio address that disapproval by parliament would mean ministers would be dismissed, and suggested MDP MPs to remain silent during the vote so parliament’s agenda could proceed.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News that it was unfair to say that only MDP MPs were responsible for the parliamentary deadlock.

”The real issue is due to a misconception in the meaning of the constitution, for there are MPs in the parliament who still have an ancient way of translating the constitution,” said Zuhair. ”It is regrettable that the parliament have arrived to a halt .”

Zuhair said the opposition was now effectively obstructing the president from establishing his government.

”Some of them cannot accept defeat and are attempting to obstruct the president from establishing a government,” he said. ”

Speaker Shahid said that the next sitting will be held tomorrow.

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Hackers target Islamic Foundation website, circulate false press release

The religious NGO Islamic Foundation of the Maldives has said a press release issued to several media outlets regarding the resignation of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Religious Council leader, and supporting the government’s education policy, was not from the Foundation.

Sheikh Adam ‘B.A’ Naseem resigned from the party yesterday, in opposition to the government’s education policy.

“The press release was sent in the name of the Islamic Foundation supporting the Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, and opposing the leader of MDP Religious council Sheikh Naseem,’’ said the President of the Islamic Foundation Ibrahim Fauzee. “The press release is misleading and could potentially harm the reputation of the foundation.”

‘’The statement alleges that Adam Naseem resigned due to political issues and for his own political interest.’’

Fauzy said the case had been reported to police for investigation.

‘’The press release was first uploaded on our website yesterday, it came to our attention and we removed the press release, and again it was uploaded to our website,’’ said Fauzee.  ‘’By then we realised our website had been hacked.’’

He said that he had no idea who was responsible for the attack on the NGO’s website.

”We also have information that the statement was distributed on the streets,” he added.

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Man sentenced for possession of pornography

The Criminal Court yesterday sentenced a man to six months imprisonment after the court found him guilty of possession of pornography.

The Criminal Court identified the person as Ali Jinah of Gulhi in Kaafu Atoll.

The Court said the police officers who went to search Jinah’s house on last year October discovered eight magazines containing pornographic pictures, one file containing  large number of pornographic pictures and one CD containing pornography.

He was sentenced for possessing contraband.

The Court said Jinah denied the charges, claiming that the police did not find the materials inside his room and that he had never showed such materials to anyone.

The Criminal Court said that according to the word of the police officers who went to the scene, “it is known that the materials were found inside Jinah’s room.”

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Man sentenced 15 days for contempt of court

The Criminal Court has sentenced a man to 15 days prison for contempt of court after he damaged court property.

The court said the man was summoned to the court to extend his detention in a drug related case.

The judge extended his detention for five days and also sentenced him for contempt of court under clause 88[a] of the penal code.

The type of incidents occur, court stated, “because of difficulties due to lack of capacity in the court.”

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President appoints Transport and Tourism minister

The President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed today formally appointed the minister for tourism and minister for Transport.

State Economic Minister Adhil Saleem was promoted to Minister of Transport.

Dr Mariyam Zulfa was appointed as the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture.

The two new ministers took the oath of ministers this morning at a ceremony held in the President’s Office.

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Despite parliament’s disapproval ministers will remain in office, says President

President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has said that ministers will not be removed from their positions if disapproved by the opposition-majority parliament during the endorsement process.

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has argued that parliament will endorse ministers individually and is reported to have a list of members it plans to disprove. The government contents that parliament’s endorsement of ministers is “ceremonial” and should be done wholesale.

Speaking during his weekly radio address, Nasheed said that he believed the consent of the parliament should be given ministers “as a whole, rather than voting individually.”

“Members appointed to the cabinet will remain in office whether the parliament approves or disapproves a member,” said Nasheed.

If the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs felt guilty in taking part in “an unlawful vote”, Nasheed requested them to remain silent in the parliament chamber and not take part.

Nasheed said although there were ministers who did and did not have the consent of the parliament, the DRP’s position was unrealistic.

“Although I desire the parliament’s approval for the cabinet it is not wise to keep the whole country in limbo until a condition that was not prescribed in a law is fulfilled,’’ he added.

Parliament ground to halt several weeks ago over the issue, and has been derailed on points of order.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan said the president’s decision would “drop the whole country into chaos.”

“He is disrespecting the constitution,’’ said Nihan, “even though he is the person who should be the most responsible for upholding the constitution.’’

Referring to the president’s position on the issue, Nihan suggested that “tomorrow a citizen might go in front of the president’s office claiming to be the president ‘because the constitution does not clearly state the details of who shall be president.'”

“If these things continue to go this way, one day the citizens may enter the president’s office and throw out the cabinet ministers themselves,” he warned. “I call on the president to respect and uphold the constitution.”

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Leader of MDP Religious Council resigns in protest

Chair of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Religious Council, Sheikh Adam ‘B.A’ Naseem, has resigned.

Sheikh Naseem confirmed to Minivan News that today he had sent the party a letter of resignation and requested the Elections Commission (EC) record his departure from the party.

“It was due to many issues,’’ Sheikh Naseem said. ‘’The education policy of this government is one issue.’’

There were other issues, he said, that he did “not wish to discuss”.

Spokesperson for MDP Ahmed Haleem said he had not received the information yet, and Chairperson of MDP MP Mariya Didi and Parliamentary Group leader MP Moosa Manik did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Last night protesters gathered near the house of Minister of Education Dr Musthafa Luthfy and called on the resignation of the minister, and some other senior officials at the ministry.

Religious NGOs such as Jamiyyathul Salaf and other NGOs have opposed to the introduction of co-education and warned the ministry that there will be “many social and religious issues” that would arise if the concept was introduced.

Dr Musthafa Luthfy recently told Minivan News that the ministry’s idea was not to introduce co-education, but was rather to combine primary grades to the current secondary schools, in which case the all-female and all-male schools would have to receive girls and boys.

There are currently four secondary schools in Male’, two for males only and the other two for females.

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DRP to hold gathering to commemorate ‘Victory Day’

The main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has announced it will hold a special gathering tonight to celebrate ‘Victory Day’, a public holiday held in remembrance of those who died in the November 3 coup attempt in 1988.

The Maldives was attacked by 80 armed mercenaries linked to the Sri Lankan terrorist group, the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom requested Indian intervention and 1600 paratroopers were deployed to the Maldives. 19 people were killed in the fighting, including several hostages taken by the mercenaries.

The escaping mercenary vessel was intercepted by the Indian Navy frigates INS Godavari and INS Betwa.

“We will gather and march in the main roads of Male’, said DRP MP Ahmed Nihan. “People who are attending are requested to wear black clothing because it was a dark and saddening day for the Maldives.”

Nihan criticised the government for not commemorating the day “as they should be”, accused several senior members of the government of collaborating with the mercenaries, and further claimed that the Maldives secured its own independence before the intervention of the Indian government.

“Anyone is welcome to join our gathering tonight, it is remembrance of the martyrs who passed away in the attack, and the black clothing resembles the sadness and darkness Maldivians were in back then,’’ he added.

Nihan said the gathering would begin at 8:45pm at the Artificial Beach and continue for an hour.

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