Police will not attend committee unless ordered by Supreme Court: Commissioner

Commissioner of Police Abdullah Riyaz has said that the police will not attend the Parliament Committee on Oversight of the Government unless ordered by Supreme Court.

Riyaz said this in a special interview posted on the police website.

The police were earlier advised by Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor that they do not need to attend the committee.

“You can challenge the attorney general’s decision if you want. You can challenge it and take the matter to Supreme Court. If the court rules that the police have to attend the committee, we will attend,” he said.

Riyaz said that the members of the Government Oversight Committee do not work with good intentions, and that offensive language is used to address the officers who attend the committee.

He said that police officers attended the committee previously because they believed that committee members’ intentions were good, and because it was an opportunity to provide information regarding the work of the police institution to the committee in which majority is held by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Riyaz said that some parliament members work in a manner that is extremely uncivilised, and urged the public not to elect undisciplined people who are suspected of crimes to responsible posts. He said that such people, once elected to these posts, attempt to obstruct institutions that implement the law.

Meanwhile, the Government Oversight Committee has decided to summon Riyaz and Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed in relation to the Civil Court ruling against the police’s decision to not cooperate with Raajje TV.

The police are currently according full cooperation to Raajje TV.