'Constitutional crisis plagues Maldives'

Waruna PADMASIRI

"Maldives is facing a constitutional crisis due to the judiciary being paralised. Extremist elements are calling for violence and even 'Jihad' against the government, Maldivian Foreign Secretary Mohamed Naseer told the Daily News. Since the enactment of the new constitution and the end of the 30 year rule by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maldives has been at political gridlock.

The transition to democracy has had many challenges especially because the parliament of Maldives, citizen's Majlis is controlled by the Opposition. The present crisis began due to the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the independent body with the constitutional authority to oversee the judiciary, failing to enforce its own findings against Chief Justice of the Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed, he said

"Abdulla Mohamed who was under investigation by the JSC for his politically biased statements and actions on the bench, obtained an injunction from the Civil Court ordering the JSC to halt the proceedings against him in November 2011. The crisis erupted when the same judge ordered the release of an Opposition politician, Dr Mohamed Jameel from Police custody in January 2012.

"Dr Jameel had made slanderous allegations against the Maldives government claiming to have proof that the government of president Mohamed Nasheed has links with Christian Missionaries overseas.

"Intervention of the judge in the investigation about these allegations lead to the Police requesting the assistance of the Maldives National Defense Forces to arrest the errant judge.

"The constitution has provisions to allow the Police to request for assistance from the Defense Forces as well as the Police Act which occurred on this occasion. The foreign secretary said that the protests in Male by Opposition groups since the arrest are small, but he is concerned that they are turning violent. The use of minor weapons have been reported with a journalist suffering serious injuries, he said.