Zeenews Bureau
Male: Terming the arrest warrant issued against him as outrageous, the ex-president of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed on Thursday, said that he feared for his life but maintained he will fight back.
“It’s outrageous… We are the biggest political party in Maldives. People have given us the mandate to rule for 5 years. Few policemen along with the nine year old military have staged a coup,” said Nasheed in an interview to a news channel.
Corroborating the reports that he was assaulted in the clashes, Nasheed said that he was thrashed badly by police during a rally of his supporters in the capital yesterday.
Describing the incident without any speck of panic on his face, Nasheed said that he feared for his life.
“They beat me up very badly… they also tried to drag me.. After I came out there was a crowd. There were scuffles over there too. More than 250 people have been arrested in Maldives,” said the ousted ex-president.
Nasheed said that the military and the police were assaulting the people brutally and that more than 30 were already in intensive care.
Fearing that the situation would only worsen further, Nasheed said his wife and daughter had been moved to Sri Lanka.
Nasheed expressed immense grief over the events transpiring in the island nation and said that he feared the democracy was at stake.
“Few policemen with the military are regressing nine years of democracy into a matter of weeks,” Nasheed lamented.
Appealing the international community to help the paradise nation restore its peace and democracy, Nasheed said, “I hope the international community takes note of it and help Maldives restore democracy.”
Nasheed also wanted some people on the ground to maintain peace in the nation.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nasheed had sounded confident of getting back to power when he said, “We will come to power again. We will never step back. I will not accept this coup and will bring justice to the Maldivians."
Nasheed insisted he was pushed from power by the Armed Forces at the gunpoint in what he termed a coup.
"I was forced to resign with guns all around me. They told me, if I don`t resign, they won`t hesitate to use arms," he said.
Nasheed`s supporters rioted Wednesday in Male, the capital, and seized some remote police stations, but Amnesty International said they had been peacefully marching before police attacked them.
Earlier today, a criminal court issued arrest warrants for Nasheed and his former defense minister, but the charges against them were unclear, a senior official of Nasheed`s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said.
Protests against Nasheed`s government started after he ordered the military to arrest the criminal court chief justice, saying he was blocking multi-million dollar corruption and human rights cases against the allies of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president for 30 years after which he was replaced by Nasheed.
