One of the members who had submitted the withdrawal of the Maldives from the Commonwealth Bill Gemanafushi constituency MP Ilham Ahmed has said that so far there had been no consideration of retracting the Bill from the Parliament. Ilham’s statement came after President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik during his recent official visit to India, had stressed that he would not back the notion to pull out Maldives from the Commonwealth.
To that end, President Waheed expressed confidence that the Bill would be recalled as soon as the Parliament reconvenes. He further stressed that he would not ratify the Bill even if it is passed by the Parliament.
In addition, the government had also conformed to the Commonwealth’s call to revise the composition of the National Enquiry Commission established to investigate the events of the transfer of power on February 7.
Ilham said the decision to retract the bill submitted due to the disappointment of the actions against the Maldives by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), would only be taken after discussions with President Waheed, pro-government Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP).
He further confirmed that no such dialogue had taken place thus far.
“We have given our full backing to the President. So if the President is concerned about the issue, we can make a decision after discussions. But there should also be a DQP and PPM say in the matter. We will support any decision that ensues from the discussion,†Ilham detailed.
The bill had been submitted on behalf of PPM by Ilham while Vilufushi constituency MP Riyaz Rasheed represented DQP.
Speaking to the press after submitting the bill to the Parliament Riyaz explained that the action was taken as the Commonwealth was attempting to protect the interests of one party without determining the reality of the situation.
Ilham shad aid that he did not believe that withdrawing from the Commonwealth was the best option but stressed that the decision to submit the bill was taken in consideration of the issues that the country might have to face in future.
The bill stipulates that from 60 days of the ratification of the bill, Maldives would be withdrawn from the Commonwealth.
In addition, once the Maldives withdraws from the Commonwealth and wishes to rejoin later, it can only be done after authorization from a law passed by the Parliament.
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