Citing danger to the “lives of the citizens” and “threat to national security”, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the Maldives. The emergency measures, as of now planned for 30 days, effectively snatches away the freedoms that followed the August 2008 Constitution.
However, India has been reluctant to comment on the development. South Block officials told The Hindu that they were monitoring the situation. The measure showed its immediate effect on the Internet, media houses and the websites of international organisations that became briefly inaccessible after the mid-day presidential declaration.
This is the latest in a host of crises that shook the Indian Ocean nation’s young democracy.
The emergency was declared after the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and the Maldives Police discovered a large cache of arms in different locations in the archipelago nation, the Maldivian officials told The Hindu.
But there were political reasons as well behind the move, according to experts and activists.
“The emergency was imposed to pre-empt a mass rally by the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which could have negatively impacted the law and order situation,” Hasan Zahir, a senior journalist and a commentator told The Hindu over the phone from Male.
The government recently arrested the Vice-President, Ahmed Adeeb, and conducted a series of raids to recover arms and explosives from several locations after the September 28 blast on the presidential boat.
In the declaration, President Yameen pointed out that the raids were meant to find out the culprits behind the bombing of his boat on September 28 which left his wife and several colleagues injured.
On October 1, the Maldives High Court had upheld the arrest of Vice-President Adeeb, and the next day, an improvised explosive device-like object was recovered from near the Presidential estate in Male. However, the excuses of the Maldivian government for the emergency did not impress international human rights lobby which has been demanding fair trial of imprisoned Maldivian leaders like former president Mohammed Nasheed and Mr. Adeeb.
“The emergency is just another tool in the hands of the Maldivian government to crack down on political opponents,” Olaf Blomqvist of Amnesty International told The Hindu from London. “We are extremely worried about the list of freedoms that have been suspended by the order proclaiming emergency.
We fear that the pretext of preserving law and order under the emergency will be used to further curtail human rights of the Maldivian people,” Mr. Blomqvist said on the phone.
Following the declaration of the Emergency, both President Yameen and foreign minister Dunya Maumoon asserted that the Maldives is in a stable condition and all threats to business and tourism have been neutralised.
But activists in the Maldives requesting anonymity have conveyed that the popularity of President Yameen has taken a nosedive in the recent months in view of political infighting in his government which probably prompted him to declare the emergency as the last resort.
The international human rights lobby has interpreted the decree from President Yameen as a desperate move to cover up his inability to impeach the arrested Vice-President within the stipulated period of time.
Hit by a new cycle of chaos and unrest
The declaration comes amid a bitter power struggle between President Abdulla Yameen and his deputy Ahmed Adeeb, with factions within the police and army supporting different political players
Growing popular anger, continuing political instability
* The decree, which suspends all basic rights gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest suspects, will be in force for 30 days
* Seven Articles of the Constitution have been suspended, including those guaranteeing citizens the rights of assembly, free expression, freedom from arbitrary detention and freedom of movement
* Declaration comes two days ahead of major anti-government protest rally by the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party
* The rally was aimed at pressuring President Yameen to release party leader Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country
* Nasheed left power in 2012 amid protests and was convicted earlier this year under anti-terror laws
* The move also comes at a time of heightened tensions following an explosion on Yameen’s speedboat on 28 September that wounded his wife and two others
* Yameen was unharmed in the blast, and the FBI has said there is no evidence it was caused by a bomb.
* Yameen arrested his deputy Ahmed Adeeb on 24 October after accusing him of “high treason” and linking him to the boat blast
* This week, Maldives National Defence Force said it had found a remote-controlled bomb near the president’s official residence and safely defused it
* The authorities also found explosive devices near the main mosque in the capital Male. Stashes of weapons are believed to have been stolen from army stores.
