Saturday
27th Jul 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Leadership of the opposition coalition.
The opposition Progressive Congress coalition has claimed that Defense Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi of engineering the social media campaign against former President Abdullah Yameen.
The group, who are calling themselves Maldives Youth Force, is reportedly backed by the Indian Embassy in the Maldives.
A video by the group released on social media said that they ‘stand against hate, racism, and xenophobia’ and they planned to ‘cut him [President Yameen] down to size’. The said video had been retweeted by figures such as Defense Minister Mariya Didi, diplomats, and social media figures closely associated with the Government.
In a press conference held on Tuesday, People’s National Congress (PNC) head Abdul Raheem Abdullah said that they have filed case on the issue with Maldives Police Service (MPS), Ministry of Defense, and Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).
Abdul Raheem expressed his concern over complete silence from the above-mentioned agencies. He further said that figures such as Defense Minister Mariya retweeting their post is clear evidence of state support for the movement.
“We believe this is clearly an act of terrorism. Defense Minister Mariya had supported an act of terror. Therefore, we can say that the Government had with the support of the Indian government is backing a terror movement, with Minister Mariya at the helm,” Abdul Raheem said.
The leaders of the Force were previously associated with former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb. They had instigated a protest outside of President Yameen’s residence, Tuesday afternoon. The protest had fizzled a while later, after opposition supporters had arrived at the scene.