News Desk
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu used a rally celebrating the PNC’s victory in last month’s local council elections to sharply criticise the three former presidents who have announced plans to work together, calling their alliance a gathering of failures and revisiting long-standing grievances over religion and governance.
The first meeting between former presidents Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is scheduled for Friday night. President Muizzu did not hold back.
“There are failures who hold each other’s necks and stab each other in the back,” he told supporters. “And all of them now come out and talk about the country.”
He said the country currently lacks a responsible opposition and that politicians who are two-faced offer nothing of value.
President Muizzu then turned to history, saying that opening the pages of the past would reveal the truth about those now positioning themselves as alternatives. Without naming Yameen directly, he referenced a time when politicians were jailed on various charges, a period widely associated with Yameen’s autocratic administration. He called on authorities to pursue justice in the MMPRC corruption case and said the theft of ventilators during the Solih government had not been forgotten.
On foreign policy, the President said the Maldives had moved from dependence on a single relationship to a position accepted and respected by the international community. “I give you the good news that the sweet results of that shaping will soon be seen,” he said.
The sharpest portion of the speech was directed at the MDP’s record on Islam. President Muizzu brought up the report issued by the Maldivian Democracy Network during the Solih government, which he said ridiculed the foundations of Islamic faith and questioned verses of the Quran and hadith. He said some of those responsible for the report were later appointed to senior government positions and paid from public funds. The Home Ministry dissolved the MDN after the report surfaced. A civil case filed by a former MDN staff member remains ongoing.
Muizzu also revisited the Nasheed government’s first term, saying its religious policies had forced the public onto the streets. He said the 23 December Alliance rally, held in defence of Islam during that period, was the largest gathering in the country’s history and would not have happened unless people felt religion was under threat.
“Why did the people have to come out in defence of Islam? The people would not have come out if things were not going against Islam in this country,” he said.
He said secularism had been the policy of both MDP governments and that during Nasheed’s term there were calls to find alternatives outside the Quran and the Prophet’s hadith. He said the Maldives is an Islamic country and his government would continue to promote Islam regardless of concerns raised by foreign groups.
“We are proud to implement the policy of the government with full force to give victory to Islam in this country. We will continue to do so,” he said.
The rally drew a large crowd of PNC supporters. The local council election results last month gave the ruling party a significant boost ahead of what is shaping up to be a more contested political period, with the opposition alliance now formally taking shape and parliamentary seat vacancies adding another layer of uncertainty to the coming months.
