Tag: thulusdhoo

Atoll councilors entered the office by force, allege police

Police have accused Kaafu Atoll councilors of entering the Thulusdho island office without the permission of police, after the Thulusdho island court ordered police to hand over the keys. Police did not comply.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that ”police are still watching over the building. When the councilors entered using force, we did not try to stop them.”

Shiyam said that police have not yet given the keys to the councilors.

”I don’t think anyone gave them the key, so police are active in the area to watch over the assets and valuables inside the building,” he said.

Local media today reported this morning the police were “laying siege” to the Atoll Office in Thulusdho and blocking the entrance, but said later that the building was handed over to the atoll councilors after minor confrontations between police and citizens of Thulusdhoo.

On Saturday, in a council meeting held in the Kaafu Atoll Office in Maafushi, the newly elected Kaafu Atoll councilors decided to move the current Atoll office in Maafushi to its former premises based in Kaafu Atoll, Thulusdhoo.

However, after the decision was made, police confiscated the keys of the former Kaafu Atoll office in Thulushoo and councilors were not allowed to enter. Councilors then requested the island court order police to hand over the keys.

The Court yesterday ordered the police to hand over the keys to the atoll councilors, and also court ordered the police not to obstruct the work of Atoll Councilors.

In a meeting with the press today, Home Minister Hassan Afeef said that the councilors did not have the authority to decide where the council’s office should be located.

”The passed the resolution not after discussing with us,” SunFM quoted Afeef saying. ”There will be no law that gives authority to the council to decide where there office will be located.”

Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has expressed concern over the violence occurred in Thulusdhoo.

HRCM said that the commission was observing the commotion since yesterday and noted that it was “worsening day by day.”

”We call on all the concerned authorities to solve the issue by negotiating,” said the HRCM. ”And we all call on everyone to keep their actions within the law.”

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Thulusdhoo court orders police to give councilors keys to former atoll office

The Island Court of Thulusdhoo has ordered police to hand over the keys of the former Atoll office in Thulusdhoo to councilors immediately.

Yesterday, in a council meeting held in Kaafu Atoll Office in Maafushi, the newly elected Kaafu Atoll councilors decided to move the current Atoll office to its former premises based in Kaafu Atoll, Thulusdhoo.

However, after the decision was made, police confiscated the keys of the former Kaafu Atoll office in Thulushoo and councilors were not allowed to enter. Councilors then requested the island court order police to hand over the keys.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the atoll office building in Thulusdhoo “is an asset of the government, so the councilors will have to come to a common understanding with the government if they want to enter the building.”

Shiyam said that police had taken the keys due to a conflict between the government and the newly appointed local council over officially handing over the building.

“The building in question belongs to the government, which therefore has to agree to officially hand it over to the council,” he said. “The situation requires some form of agreement between the two parties and this is what the police have tried to [negotiate].”

Shiyam said that it was waiting for the government and council representatives to come to “some sort of understanding” in order to solve the dispute.

He said he could not comment on whether the police would be obeying the island court order.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that councilors do not have the authority to decide where the atoll office would be located.

”When this government came in to administration, the atoll office of Kaafu Atoll was located in Thulushdoo, once when the Province state minister visited Thulusdhoo, islanders forced him to leave the island,” Zuhair explained.

”So by presidential decree, President Nasheed moved the atoll office to Maafushi, to locate the atoll office on an island where province state minister could visit.”

Zuhair said that the decision of the Kaafu Atoll councilors “harms the sovereignty of the state.”

”It’s not within their legal power to decide whether they will have the atoll office on an uninhabited island or inside president’s office, only the president has that authority,” he said, adding that ”the atoll councilors will have to report to the atoll office wherever it is located”.

the dispute led to a confrontation between police and citizens of Thulusdhoo, according to the local media, in which both police and islanders were said to have been injured.

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Thulusdhoo and Funadhoo – Capitals Again

The former capitals of Kaaf atoll and and Shaviyani atolls have been reinstated.

The government changed the capitals from Thulusdhoo to Maafushi (Kaafu atoll) and from Funadhoo to Milandhoo (Shaviyani atoll) on 26 October 2009.

That decision has now been reversed by the Majlis after a vote with 41 MPs for the reinstatement and 31 against.

The bill containing the reinstatement, originally presented by Funadhoo MP Ali Saleem, was passed with committee amendments.

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