Deputy leader of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Umar Naseer has warned President Mohamed Nasheed against putting “one step outside of the chart” in his handling of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Naseer, who has recently faced factional difficulties within his own party after it voted to send him before the DRP disciplinary committee, threatened that Nasheed did so, “it will be the end of his regime.”
President Nasheed spoke yesterday at the launch of historian Ahmed Shafeeg’s book alleging that 111 Maldivian citizens were held in custody and tortured by the former administration.
Nasheed stressed that Gayoom alone could not be blamed for all the human rights abuses that occurred under his watch.
“It was not done by him alone. It was a whole system that did it. It was Dhivehi tradition that did it. It was Dhivehi culture that did it,” he said.
Nasheed’s use of the phrase “outside the chart” in an earlier speech has been widely interpreted by the opposition as “acting outside the Constitution”, ostensibly in his detention of the Gayoom’s brother and People’s Alliance MP Abdulla Yameen on charges of treason and bribery, after he was released by the court.
Naseer said that if Nasheed acted in such a fashion with Gayoom, “there will be consequences.”
‘’We have seen Nasheed arrest some of our leaders and MPs, out of the chart,’’ Umar said. “We waited patiently and tried to set them free smoothly, and eventually we made the President release them.’’
Gayoom was a different matter, he suggested.
‘’The next day we will file a no-confidence motion against the President and we will make it the end of his regime,’’ Umar said. “Rephrase: do not touch our beloved honorary leader out of the chart.’’
While the opposition has a parliamentary majority and has dismissed former Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem with a majority vote, it presently lacks the two-thirds majority it would require to dismiss Nasheed or Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan. However the government has previously accused the opposition of attempting to buy the cooperation of MDP MPs.
Speaking at a rally yesterday, Naseer also strongly criticised the president for climbing onto the roof of the president’s residence to install solar panels.
‘’I wasn’t astonished to see how fast he climbed up the roof, because he is a pro-tree climber,’’ he said.
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