Nasheed: Restricting MNDF officers from speaking on terror attack is an injustice

Former President of the Maldives and current Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has spoken out against the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) prohibiting specific officers at the scene from speaking out regarding the terrorist bombing attack targeting him on May 6. 

The MNDF has stated that the institution will respond to the parliamentary Committee making an inquiry into the bombing, instead of specific individual officers. 

MNDF in a statement issued yesterday said that it would be a violation of the chain of command hierarchy, command and control, policies within the army if specific individual officers are to be summoned and questioned regarding the accountability of the responsibilities of the MNDF, and so the MNDF would respond as an institution to the parliamentary inquiry into the matter. 

Speaker Nasheed, who was the target of the attack, retweeted the MNDF statement and said that a decision of the "top brass" should not be made to hide the perfect response, conduct, and actions of an MNDF rank and file officer. 

"It is a decision of injustice, if the remarkable officers near me when the bombing to kill me happened, are not allowed to speak," said Nasheed. 

Nasheed is still in Germany recovering from the attack which seriously wounded him. A date for his return to the Maldives is not yet confirmed. Nasheed departed to Germany after receiving life-saving procedures at the ADK Hospital in the aftermath of the attack. The attack also saw his bodyguards from the SPG unit of the MNDF, wounded as well as nearby bystanders on the street.