Male’, Maldives – Former President and current Speaker of the Parliament of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed said that ignoring the actions of the police on 7th February and making amendments to the law concerning policemen would result in a long lasting damage to the regime.
Speaker Nasheed tweeted regarding the amendments suggested by the government to the law concerning policemen saying that disregarding the actions of the police on 7th February and bringing amendments to the Police bill would result in a lasting damage to the regime. The suggested amendments to the law enable more power to the police and hence some MDP members have previously expressed their concern saying they do not trust the police at all.
Comissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed said regarding the issue, that overthrowing the government is not something that the current police department would do and he gives full gaurantee of this to the public. CP further said that the events of 7th February is history and the police has learned many lessons from those events and that the current police department would not attempt a coup.
I do not believe that the officers in the Police institution now, or those who will join the force in the future [would do something like that], and the work being done to strengthen the institution will ensure this as well.
Comissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed
In response to Comissioner Mohamed Hameed, Nasheed previously said that the Commission of National Inquiry (CONI) report highlights what must be done to ensure that the armed forces of the country do not betray the government, and that unless the report is complied with, it would be not possible to say with certainty, that another coup would not happen.
The presidency of Mohamed Nasheed ended on 7th February 2012 after he resigned following what he describes as efforts from a group including MNDF officers and policemen, to overthrow the government. Following his resignation, on 8th February 2012, Nasheed took initiative and carried out several protests in the capital city, Male’ as well as other atolls which resulted in a loss of MVR 200 million to the government. Nasheed said that his government was overthrown by an attempted coup conspiring against him.
