High level talks stall after senior party figures fail to appear

Resort tycoon and leader of the government coalition Jumhoree Party (JP), Gasim Ibrahim, has called for the resignation of Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, after he did not appear at high-level talks on Tuesday morning.

Shahid made the decision to suspend Parliament indefinitely pending a resolution to the ongoing political turmoil.

Gasim was reported as stating in local media that “if the Speaker had any sincerity he would have been here.”

The latest round of informal parliament-initiated talks – running parallel to the formal All-Party talks – were to involve a series of high-level discussions between senior party leaders. The all-party talks are one track of the international community’s response to the political turmoil in the Maldives, together with the Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).

A UN source disputed that the all-party talks had collapsed, stating that “on the contrary we are still hoping to reach agreement on holding them again soon.”

The previous round of the UN-mediated talks, held at Vice President Waheed Deen’s Bandos Island Resort and Spa in early June, collapsed after parties aligned with the government presented the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) with a list of 30 demands.

The list included calls that the MDP “stop practicing black magic and sorcery”, “stop the use of sexual and erotic tools”, and “not walk in groups of more than 10”.

Following the Bandos retreat, Convenor of the All-Party talks, Ahmed Mujuthaba, acknowledged the lack of progress and suggested that “In the end, the most senior political leaders will need to create an atmosphere conducive to discussions, and come together prepared to work in good faith.”

Following this morning’s meeting, Gasim observed to local media that “parliamentary group leaders of the so called big parties, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and MDP were absent.”

Speaking to reporters outside the President’s Office, MDP MP Ali Waheed revealed that the party made two proposals, which were for all parties to agree to early elections or to determine a course of action based on the conclusions of the CNI report.

“Going for an early election would certainly cool the political atmosphere. Then we talked about how to act on the CoNI report due on the 30th this month. [We said] if they conclude it was a coup d’etat, President Nasheed should be reinstated and there won’t be any further discussions on that. If it was not a coup, if they conclude that the transfer of power was constitutional, we will wait for 2013,” the deputy leader of the MDP parliamentary group explained.

He added however that those found by the commission to have violated the law or committed criminal acts should face prosecution.

Ali Waheed said he expected a response from the President’s Office to the MDP’s proposals.

Gasim told reporters that participating in such talks was “meaningless” as the subject of resuming Majlis sittings was not discussed.

JP would not participate in any further talks until a solution to resuming sittings could be sought through parliament, Gasim said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately stated that talks were part of the India-initiated All-Party talks. The talks were parliament-initiated.

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6 thoughts on “High level talks stall after senior party figures fail to appear”

  1. Burumaa or Maaburu Gasim? He is not fit to be rich and powerful but Allah knows best, Today Maldives is suffering because of his richness. Sad

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  2. very smart Qasim, but not your move am sure!!
    obviously Qasim will come out n say we r not going to continue talks,!! why? cox it's not going to be in his favor!!
    Nasheed back in power?? oh my!

    do u all remember he said so many things that proves he is the top financial aid for the COUP, his involvement is seen more than any other party leader!! What did we expect him to come out n say?

    " Oh, am sorry, Coup was brought,ppl we beaten,abused n stripped off the very basic human rights, am sorry coup leaders are eating treasury n emergency budget, am sorry no Aasandha, am sorry am not paying n will not pay TGST!"

    He is the serpent tail, n the three heads are Nazim, Ablo Riyyaz, Maumoon, Cut all three heads, n the servant will die!!!

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  3. We should start to pick out those who are not contributing anything positive towards a particular direction for the country to go in.

    Anni, be it as controversial as his purpose maybe, is fighting to forge a direction- that is to re establish his rule so he can implement his policies (contraversial as they maybe too)

    Maumoon does not say much except to denounce everything Anni says and his main policy is centered around not letting Anni come back into power. This sounds more like a purpose for himself rather than the public at large

    Waheeds stand is he is not to blame for a coup de etat because he believes ignorance is a virtue. And he is trying his best to keep a questionnable legitimacy of his government intact as he is feebly trying to establish his rule. This also is not directional rather a maintenance job

    Gasim again is not directional. He is implicated in the coup and busted live on tv thanking god he didn't have to force a military take over. We don't know anything about gasims policy even if he becomes president except the lingering knowing that he will do his best to protect his business interests and expand his profile before giving opportunity to any other person to directly compete with any of his businesses. Which by the way is almost all possible businesses one can fathom doing in Maldives.

    Neither of all these clowns except Anni is actually fighting in offense for development policies and for the people. Rest are just playing defense.

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  4. Gasim is regreting badly that he took part in this coup organized by Gayyoom family. It is part of Gayooms evil plan to fram Gasim and Thasneem.

    Yaameen and Gayoom are telling everyone they both were on Malaysia during the days that led to the coup.

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  5. god knows who you are..Gasim: sit and think for 2 minutes. you are not going to live for ever.

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  6. Oh!
    Now Shaid should resign and Gasim should be made Speaker!
    When CoNI report is out, Waheed should resign and handover power to Gasim!
    Fataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!
    What bright idea!
    Uncle "chuckless drill" seeing signs of Presidency (unelected) in his eyes! WOW!

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