Former President Mohamed Nasheed, who is contesting in the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential primary election, has said that his competitors at the presidential election will be ‘Wasanti’, the political leaders of the ‘coup’.
Wasanti was the chief commander of the Plot Organisation, which was involved in the attack on Maldives on 3 November 1988. He was killed by a gunshot wound by Armed Forces.
Speaking at the rally calling for ‘direct action’ last night, Nasheed said MDP’s only competitors at the election will be no other than those who ‘clearly orchestrated the coup’.
“Our competitor is Wasanti! Every person who can be MDP’s competitor is a traitor who has clearly participated in the coup,” Nasheed said, referring to the leader of Plot Organisation and the incident of 3 November where the major players were Abdullah Luthfee, Sagaru Ahmed Nasir and Sikka Ahmed Ismail Manik.
Nasheed also said that MDP facilitated twice as many services to the public as Gayoom did during his 30 years as President. He noted that the public was still enjoying the benefits and gains of the promises delivered by MDP.
He said that MDP can only reestablish a compassionate government by holding an election, and this can only be done by taking to the streets for ‘direct action’.
Referring to the damage caused by MDP protesters to state property on 8 February 2012, Nasheed said that they were only expressing their views, and that the criminal procedure against them is illegal. He added that MDP will join forces with those groups and take to the streets to show that MDP exists.
Nasheed said that even though the government was changed through a coup, the current government will not win the coup. He said that if they did win the coup, MDP would have ceased to exist and he would not be alive.
“We are going for an election because they could not complete the coup. If they were able to complete the coup, we would not be alive. Our belongings will not exist. Our relatives will not be safe. They could not complete the coup because we had obtained the freedom to express ourselves, because political parties had been created, because MDP exists,” Nasheed said.
He said that through the ‘direct action’ campaign, MDP will turn the coup upside down, produce its participants in court, and give them the punishment they deserve.