Maldives President Resigns

After initiating multi-party democracy in the Indian Ocean archipelago President Mohamed Nasheed resigned with the accusation of adopting the autocratic methods of his predecessor President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who was in charge of the chain of nearly 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean for 30 years. President Nasheed was a former political prisoner and activist who highlighted the threat of global warming in the low-lying islands. He became the president of Maldives with an historic election victory in 2008 but after all this glorious work he faced fierce political opposition as reason of some bad decision he made. Situation became very difficult because the parliament is dominated by opposition parties.

One of the bad decisions was the order to arrest Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed by the army which was issued by Mr. Nasheed. He pointed the finger at the judge for working in favor of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Not only this, a source close to the president said that there was a coup by the former regime. But the army and the vice-president have denied such news.

President Nasheed announced his decision during a news conference broadcasted on TV by saying that, it will be better for the country in the current situation if he resigns and he doesn't want to run the country with an iron fist. The decision came after weeks of protest and a mutiny by some police officers who denied following the order. A group of police officers took control of the state broadcaster and started playing out messages in support of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The army is accused for firing rubber bullets at the protesting police and situation was getting worse day by day. So may be the resign decision can be a solution for Maldives or not. But the arresting of judge is showing that Maldives is facing a deep-rooted problem in its judicial system.

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