CMAG talks about Inquiry Commission without studying the situation: Thasmeen

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has said that CMAG’s statement that majority of Maldivians do not support the Inquiry Commission was made without any investigation, and is based on the opinion of a certain group of people.

Speaking on DhiTV last night, Thasmeen said that even local politicians are struggling to understand how Maldivians feel about Inquiry Commission – thus he is shocked that a foreign group made such a statement without conducting any proper survey, after talking to only few people.

“I was really surprised when they said most Maldivians don’t support Inquiry Commission, how would they know! Even we, who have been in politics for a long time, are not sure about how Maldivians feel about Inquiry Commission,” Thasmeen said.

He said that while CMAG mention that the Commission is not impartial, they should also describe their requirements. He noted that it is not easy for the government to understand their requirements because they are not consistent in what they say.

“Commonwealth needs to be clear about what they want. They should describe what they believe would strengthen impartiality of the Commission, or what we need to do to improve the Commission,” Thasmeen said.

He referred to Commonwealth’s call for an early election this year and said that, without conducting a proper investigation of the transfer of power and considering the result of that investigation, no foreign organisation can call for an early election:

“International organisations do not have the authority to condition elections of member countries. Even if a country acts in conflict with the organisation’s standards or rules, they can only call for an election after properly studying the incidents which took place,” the parliament minority leader said.

The most recent report released by CMAG states that the Commission of National Inquiry established to assess the events leading to the transfer of power is not independent or impartial, and urged the government to hold an early election within the year.