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Focus: DRP in AdduBy Aishath Zeena, Seenu Atoll Correspondent
S.Hithadhoo, Maldives, 13th January 2006 (olhuala.com) – The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) rally held at Muhibbudhdheen School, Seenu Atoll Hithadhoo last night has been deemed a huge success by several analysts.
The DRP’s rally got underway at 9:15 PM Thursday evening. The attendance just before the commencement of the meeting was estimated to be over 600. A steady inflow of residents throughout the rally meant that the numbers present at the end were estimated to have been over a thousand.
“This is a huge achievement on the part of the DRP” said Saleem Majdi a close follower of Maldivian party politics. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has always maintained that Hithadhoo Island was their stronghold.
The local boy, Dr Hassan Saeed mesmerised everyone present with his oratory skills. He tore the MDP arguments to smithereens with impeccable elegance, and mocked their “lame shadow cabinet” with utter disdain. “It’s poetry” remarked a flabbergasted attendee. There was a stunned awe within the auditorium. Saeed’s fluent flow was followed by the Justice Minister, Uz. Mohamed Jameel’s strong words. Jameel listed counts on which leading MDP activists could be tried for events in Huvandhu Atoll. He also made remarks on the MDP’s hasty arrival on the Island in an effort to intimidate the DRP into cancelling the planned rally.
An MDP top brass delegation had in fact arrived on the island late Thursday afternoon for an unplanned meeting. Analysts saw this move as an effort to sabotage the DRP’s preplanned rally.
It is still unclear whether the MDP’s meeting was a public rally or a members-only meeting. The MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Gafoor was unavailable for comment.
In the Maldives, political parties are required by law to inform the authorities of their intention to hold a public rally, seven working days prior to the event. Sources within the Home Ministry inform olhuala.com that the Ministry received no written notification from the MDP. “If the MDP meeting was a closed door, members only affair they should not have had children in there” says Mimthaz, a well-known DRP figure in Addu.
Although the MDP’s meeting was scheduled to begin at 9:00 PM, it did not start until well after 10:00 PM. Less than 300 turned up at the MDP event, and the remaining seats were filled with underage school children. The laws that govern party politics in the Maldives prohibit children to attend such political rallies. Commenting further on this issue, DRP’s Mimthaz told olhuala.com “This is another statement from the MDP to the public that, they [MDP] disregard all laws of the land, and hence feel that they are indeed above the law, we call on the authorities to take swift action in reprimanding them [MDP] for these continuous violations”.
Dr Saeed brought the DRP’s proceedings to a hault on hearing the sad news of the events that had taken place in Mecca. Hithadhoo residents and DRP members who were walking out of the school hall were attacked by a mob that came out of the MDP’s ‘meeting’. “They [the MDP members] were hurling stones, and firebombs at us” Evan Nasheed, of Hithadhoo Dhambumage told olhuala.com. He also said that the MDP members were shouting obscenities and headed straight at and attacked the Maldives Police Services (MPS) personnel stationed outside both rallies. “Three DRP members were injured, and I can assure you that no children were injured” said Hassan Fayaz another eyewitness present.
No injuries to children have been reported by state owned media, or by any of the major newspapers. The MDP’s clandestine ‘news’ website minivannews.com operated by David Hardingham, the leader of the MDP’s international wing, through his UK Company Minivan Radio Limited ‘reported’ that a child of 13 years had been injured.
“I am 100% sure that no children were injured” said Dr Gulfishaan Aalam, a senior houseman at the hospital, when asked to comment on the injuries sustained by children.
DRP sources told olhuala.com that the delegation touring the southern most atolls of the country will now move on to the island atoll of Fuahmulah, the home of olhuala.com.
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