MDP Chairperson Calls For Yameen To Be Arrested For His India Out Campaign

The Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) Chairperson, MP Hassan Latheef (MDP-Henveiru West) has said that the opposition leader, former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, must be arrested for his campaigning for the removal of all Indian military personnel and assets from the Maldives.

Speaking at an event held in Foakaidhoo (Shaviyani Atoll) to gain support for the MDP's candidate for the upcoming Komandoo bi-election, MP Latheef said that the "India Out" campaign was the reason behind the threats to expatriate teachers living in the Maldives, and vandalism on the walls of schools. He said that former President Yameen must take responsibility for all this.

"India Out" had been spray-painted on the outer wall of Shaviyani Funadhoo School yesterday. The Funadhoo Island Council lay the blame squarely on an MDP activist who lived on the island; members of the Council had said that the act of vandalism had been committed to give the opposition and its "India Out" campaign a bad name.

On a previous occasion, the government had attempted to accuse journalists who were critical of Indian foreign policy in the Maldives of terrorism by linking them to an anonymous tweet that threatened to blow up the Indian High Commission in the Maldives. A brief investigation showed that the Tweet had been written by an MDP activist who had run in the 2019 MDP parliamentary primary.

MP Latheef accused the former President's call for the removal of Indian military personnel and assets as an encouragement to the targeting of expatriate Indians living in the Maldives. He said that this posed a threat to Maldivians and Maldivian families who were living in the Maldives, and the former President would cease his talking "if he had any love for them".

MP Latheef had also claimed that the former President's campaign posed a threat to the nation's security. He said that the former President should be arrested immediately.