The country's first democratically elected President has been removed from office, and in his place has been installed a puppet government of the Gayoom establishment.
The Golhaa has already unleashed his rabid dogs - the mob of violent, uniformed criminals known as "Star force" - upon the people to intimidate them into surrender, just like in the good old days of the dictatorship.
On their very first day after coming to power, the proxy dictatorship has rounded up several hundred people - my dad among them, who has given me first hand information - and detained them in prisons.
The air in the capital has once again acquired the familiar sting of tear gas, people have been beaten unconscious on the streets, and MP's have been clobbered half to death.
Even the toppled President himself has been roughed up by Golhaa's mad dogs.
President Nasheed, after being attacked by Police thugs
[Source: Haveeru]
It was then handed over to the management of opposition propaganda outlet VTV, and immediately renamed as 'TVM' as it was known earlier during the Golhaa dictatorship.
While the Golhaa's thugs were on a rampage against civilians in public, the state media and opposition propaganda outlets were playing children's cartoons.
A man beaten unconscious by riot police the day after the coup.
[source: sun.mv]
The heads of the Police and Armed forces have been replaced with Golhaa loyalists. The Executive cabinet is being reconstituted with Golhaa apologists.
To consolidate their power over the state after a 3 year absence, however, the Golhaa knows he needs to get Anni off the streets.
Yesterday, the newly appointed Home Minister Mohamed Jameel of the DQP - an impossibly humourless man, a Gayoom ally and a prominent party involved in this gross treason - has revealed in a press conference that he intends to charge the ex-President with terrorism.
Sounds familiar? It should be. This won't be the first time the Golhaa dictatorship has charged Anni with terrorism and put him behind bars.
It shouldn't matter what the charges are. The mid-level Courts are hand picked by the Golhaa, and their only apparent responsibility is to carry out the Golhaa's bidding. So they could charge him with stealing Christmas, and still get a conviction.
Indeed, the Courts have already issued an arrest warrant.
The only thing that stands between Anni and an eternity in prison is the international goodwill that he has built up - and whatever influence that carries with the proxy dictatorship.
I don't know how we have let this happen. But it is clear to me that we Maldivians need to flip back our calendars a few years and start over again.
We simply cannot afford to go back to being enslaved by the Golhaa, or live in terror of the Golhaa force again.
And this time, we need to do a better job of flushing the piled up, 30 year old shit that's clogging our pipes, and carefully sort out the judiciary, the Gayoom clan, his corrupt cronies, and his "Star Force" thugs. It's the only way the Maldives can ever progress.
These criminals need to be in prison. Not beating up citizens
[Source: Haveeru]
Just as before, there are those who'll oppose every effort at public resistance.
"You'll encourage violence!"
"Don't disturb the peace!"
"Act within the law!"
I am usually an advocate of Gandhi's methods of non-cooperation and peaceful civil disobedience. But having seen people - people I don't even know or recognize - being beaten up unconscious in front of me by a state-sanctioned mob has flipped some kind of switch inside me.
Right at this moment, I can absolutely justify the outrage and the anger of the people in my hometown of Addu. Following the brutal crackdown on President Nasheed's supporters in Male', they burned down all the police stations and courts in Addu - and I can say I fully understand the sentiment.
Gross brutality by a state militia is a strong provocation, Dr Jameel. Do not act surprised and pull the 'terrorism' card when people react with violence.
The Golhaa might have returned. But I think the citizens have wised up just a little since the last revolution. If you don't put your mad dogs on a leash, the people will.
PS: I usually try to refrain from using words like 'thugs' when referring to state authorities. However, after witnessing the brutality and violence inflicted by the Golhaa force, I find that no words can truly express my revulsion and contempt for these criminals.
By calling them 'thugs', I'm actually being needlessly polite.
~Peace!
