Former President and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed has claimed that India does not wish for the Maldives to have a presidential elections in which any party’s candidate is barred from contesting.
The former President, who returned today from an official visit to the country, said India was concerned that this may lead to unrest in the island nation.
“India wishes for peace in the Maldives. And they see that the way to achieve this is through holding elections after establishing an interim administration,” he claimed.
“Nations are telling me in very clear terms that it will be difficult for them to accept election results if I am barred from contesting,” Nasheed said, speaking to local media upon his arrival from India on Monday afternoon.
Responding to questions as to why he had failed to attend his hearing in the Hulhumale’ Court scheduled for Sunday, he responded that he “did not believe the trial can be carried on.”
Nasheed was due to attend the second court hearing at the Hulhumale Magistrate Court regarding his controversial arrest of the Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed.
Nasheed insisted that his trial can be put off until after the elections, citing the case of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s trial being postponed until after the country’s elections.
“Those are judicial procedures. That is the norm. That is how the world sees it. If elections in the Maldives are held in any other way, very few in the international sphere will accept the result,” Nasheed said.
Nasheed said that weakened relations between India and Maldives could be strengthened by renewing the agreement for airport development with Indian infrastructure giant GMR.
The developer was given a seven day eviction notice in late November 2012, after the government declared its contract void.
“As I see it, the GMR contract will be renewed before this year’s elections,” Nasheed stated.
Nasheed said that despite the government’s repeated assertions that the Maldives’ relationship with India remained unaffected, ties were becoming increasingly weakened. He said Maldivian citizens were facing more and more difficulties as bilateral ties with India continued to slump.
Although Nasheed did not name any Indian officials, he claimed to have met with relevant authorities in India and held discussions on restrengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.
“If we are unable to improve ties, it’s not just visa issues we will be faced with. We might need to deal with difficulties in obtaining much of the construction material or food items we import from India,” said Nasheed.
Nasheed also stated that he would be travelling abroad at the end of February, having accepting an invitation from the Commonwealth Secretary General, and to Denmark under an invitation from the state.
Hundreds of MDP supporters gathered near the jetty and at the airport to greet Nasheed on his arrival.
Minivan News observed that police had cordoned off many of the main roads leading to the jetty area.
An MDP representative claimed a number of MDP members were arrested at the site of the gathering.
Police Media Official Sub Inspector Hassan Haneef was not responding to calls at the time of press.
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Nations???
Is this like the vague story on foreign intelligence agency whispering in your ears, while you slept, about Dr Afrasheems murder?
FYI : The Nations have got many problems of their own, and would do their best to stay away from a non-relevant, completely-dependent-on-others, bed bug of a nation in the middle of no-where.
Americans : No. British : No. Chinese : No. Sri Lankans : err definitely No!. Indians : May respond to bribe. Australians : No. Canadians : No.
Are you referring to Ethipia?
He is most definitely referring to the United Nations, the UN.
Pope also resigns today, in February, just 4 days after President Nasheed resigned.
Possible coup? CONI report?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21411304
we dont want to have any relationship with this backstabbing nation......let it go to hell or heaven. let it sink in the ocean or become a global power.......maldiveans..please srilanka and china are your friends.go and do your shopping from there.please avoid us...........i am from kerala and we considered maldiveans like us and gave them lot of respect and love and see how you backstabbed us.ungrateful people....
Who would you choose
1-moral leader and crusader of democracy but a bad, miscalculated and legally clumsy executive who very likely will fail to play clever politics as president making next 5 years much like his first 3 years.
2- a group of highly educated heartless thugs and bullies who take control by force and put nepotism before public welfare but will very likely put an end to unrest in this country by crushing what is left of MDP after they can Nasheed forever.
That's the choice we have. It's not even a choice some might say. We just want to be entertained watch them fight. No one cares about the country anymore.
nations didn't say so.
nations understand if you've committed a crime they cannot ask to disregard such acts even though you're a presidential candidate or a former one. law should be applied equally to all. doesn't the logo of MDP represent this???
anyhow, india never said any such thing. india has got enough officials to speak on her behalf and nasheed isn't of them 🙂
He is right, the world is watching us now. A wrong turn will destroy the tourism industry...
Nasheed, Nasheed...you have finally perfected your behavior with Dictator Gayoom! He likes his cult worshipers when ever he comes from abroad to cheer for him..and you likes it! He likes all corrupt people around and you do too! He makes intellectuals to do all the hard work and feeds the fruits of the hard pain to the corrupt around him and you too! I wonder how you would end up? The only difference between him and you is now,..Gayoom is more careful and doesn't party with toxic drinks like you do, or shall I say he does all his dark actions in absolute secrecy! While you are like a playboy! Your staged doom (Feb 7) is well played! Why? because you wanted to recharge your support which was all time low because of your nightlife and mistakes. So your soul advisers told you to follow the current path..and show you played it well! Lets see if you can please them in return! One thing is for sure..you are more energetic than Gayoom and control more gangs than his brother! This presidential election is between the gang leaders! Lets see who wins!
ungrateful Indian... we treated you like familly, pay you a fortune to stay in kerala... you and me both know the well wish gifts exchanged. it is shame you see it that way.
We all believe that free and fair election should happened and no party should barred from participation in the election.
However no party should depend on any single person and no party should have policies made around one person.
No person should be above the law including Nasheed and Nasheed also must obey the laws .
If Nasheed is so sure of his innocence he can prove in the court . He has c;early breached the constitution by locking up supreme court, arresting political leaders like Yameen and Gasim outside his jurisdiction.
He has arrested Chief judge outside the constitutional rights which is wrong.
He had given airport to GMR outside the constitutional rights.
he had use public funds to give holidays to his party members and his family members outside the constitutional rights.
these are few things that need to be cleared before should be allowed to contest in the election.
I doubt that India or any other country in the world want him to be only the president of this country and it for us , the people of Maldives to decide who to be our president and not the foreigner.
All the nations will accept any president who win the elections and non of the nations is going to favor any candidate.
This guy Nasheed thinks that we are dumb people who know nothing and he is only the man who knows everything and the entire world is behind him to get him elected.
I guess Nasheed is living in a dream world .
Well said John Baker
All cult leaders have a cause. They never promote themselves directly, because it will never be accepted. You will have no one following you if you promote yourself. But if you promote a cause, and convince others that this cause is important and you are pivotal and indispensable for its success, you can have many followers. Hitler chose nationalism and restoring the German pride as his cause. Stalin chose proletariat and class struggle as his cause. Jim Jones chose social justice as his cause. Charles Manson chose preservation of air, trees, water and animals (ATWA) as his cause. Shoko Asahara chose the end of perpetual suffering through rebirth as his cause, and so on and so forth. Nasheed is promoting democracy as his cause.
The only thing that India should be giving the Maldives are some floaties and swimming lessons, that should extend it out by a few days.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had admitted on live TV to the parliament of Maldives that he was carrying a pistol and 5 or 6 other friends were also carrying pistols on the evening he was sworn as president of Maldives for the 1st time. He also says admits that it was against the law of the nation in that very speach. There is a recording of it and there are thousands of Maldivians still alive (including me) who will swear that he made this claim to parliament. Why is there no trial for Maumoon for this? Is he above the law? If he is, then Nasheed also can be above the law. Why is no one talking about this? Have you people conveniently forgotten about that crime against law because it was Maumoon?
These two cases were two different and magnitude of the crime is very much different.
I guess Gayyoom if he was having illegal weapon then it should also be questioned.
My problem is if there was a legal case, why Nasheed when he was in power and ruling the country like a dictators, has never taken the Gayyoom case ? Eiether Nasheed and gayyoom are partners in commiting this crimes or Nasheed had no solid case against Gayyoom.
Neither Gayyoom or Nasheed is above the law.
President Nasheed and president Gayoom both wants power for mere pleasure! Nasheed is a younger version of Gayoom! And an agent of Masonic groups!
The smug grin shows how much he enjoys taking advantage of the gullible Mordis men.
As I see it an MDP government is the only hope for the Maldives, given the present situation. India is totally relevant to the progress and prosperity of the country and we must have her on board. Nasheed must be able to compete in the up coming presidential elections!
Its better not Have en election with out democracy
India should stay out of this nation.We have been backstabbed by this puny little dot in the ocean.Let it sink and lets is people fight it out among themselves....for the nearest inflatable boat!
So, These "Nations" believe that MDP with over 40,000 registered members has only Nasheed capable of contesting in the Presidential race!!! and the remaining 39,999 of MDP members are uneducated puppets or gangsters??? So Anni believes that without him there is no MDP and he calls himself the champion of democracy...I am now certain this guy is more crazy than the North Korean leader. I really feel sorry for the clueless MDP supporters.
I'm rather disappointed by the level of debate in these comments. Trivial describes them best.
Look at the big picture here. Gayoom was a Dictator for decades, imprisoning and torturing people and worse and then someone says put him on trail for illegal gun holding. Sigh.
I know lots of Spanish people who long of the return of Franco - their old dictator - because of the artificial stability this brought with it. they easily forget the terror and misery he brought to thousands.
Maldevians should think in the same way - forget the past, the politically motivated charges (and coup) against Nasheed and get on with Democracy