I can't help but feel a deep sense of betrayal from countries like India and the United States that have granted legitimacy to the illegal, puppet government that has been installed in an outrageous power grab that took down the country's first democratic government.
Their unfortunate decision to recognize Gayoom's proxy government is bound to have far reaching consequences, and has set back the Maldives by a decade.
In a way, the country is worse off than before we achieved democracy. The country is now an open police state, as seen in the brazen crimes committed in full public view by the Maldives Police Service.
In the below video taken on 8th Feburary in Male', the police thugs have just charged at a crowd of President Nasheed's supporters without warning. They catch hold of a man and, without any provocation, take turns repeatedly kicking and brutally assaulting him until he is unconscious. I was watching the scene when it happened. The man lay face down, unconscious for several minutes before they dragged his broken body and roughly shoved him into an ambulance.
This is just a glimpse of the kind of terror inflicted by Waheed's masters to intimidate the public. Neither Waheed nor the newly appointed Commissioner of Police - another known Gayoom henchman - has condemned this outrage.
I am ashamed to say India and the United States / UK / UN have decided to recognize a government that has been installed by these terrorists.
The below video shows senior MDP leader, and former Parliamentary majority leader, "Reeko" Moosa Manik narrating the details of the horrifying assault on him on the 8th February, the day after the coup d'etat. From his narration, it appears the Police were possibly trying to kill him.
Several others were similarly assaulted on the same day.
The below video shows the brazen political violence committed by the highly politicized police / military. The people waving flags are supporters of the erstwhile dictator and his allies, who are cheering on the mutineers as they march up to the MDP party camp in Male' on the day of the coup d'etat, and proceed to ransack the place, set it on fire, and assault activists of the party.
During the initial assault by the rogue "star force" police, they threw pepper-spray bombs and assaulted senior members of the party who happened to be at the camp. Some were beaten, and others were forcibly held by the police and had pepper spray sprayed directly into their open eyes.
The story is even worse in the outlying atolls of the Maldives. In the southern atoll of Addu, people have apparently been taken on to coast guard vessels, been stripped and beaten. I do not have a clear confirmation of the incidents because all the State media have been taken over by the coup perpetrators and turned into the their propaganda outlets. But given the abundance of available videos of the crimes openly perpetrated by the rogue security forces in Male', there is no reason to doubt the stories reaching me from the atolls.
It is amazing how any government in the world can still remain reluctant to label this outrageous coup d'etat as a crime of the first order against the Maldivian people - and their first democratically elected government.
This isn't about the MDP or President Nasheed. It is about condoning an undemocratic power grab led by enemies of democracy, corrupt businessmen and Islamist forces in the Maldives - one that utterly shatters the country's democratic hopes.
The sacred process of appointing a government through the ballot box has been replaced by the method of terrorizing citizens, and forcibly unseating their elected government by gross abuse of the powers of the security forces.
No amount of sugar-coating or using fancy terms like 'unity government' can hide the ugliness of this episode. The truth is plain and obvious. The people have lost control of the country's media, police, military, Judiciary and Executive, which are now all firmly back under the thumb of undemocratic forces. It won't be long before they usurp the Parliament as well, by simply buying the MPs.
At this point, the country's democracy lies utterly destroyed.
In other words, it is an upsetting betrayal by the international community.
I cannot, in my right mind, accept the legitimacy of this criminal dictatorship that has been imposed on my people - with international support, I'm sad to say.
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P.S. Ever since the coup d'etat, I've been getting intimidating messages from both self-proclaimed "religious" (anonymous) representatives and members of the armed forces that I personally know.
I'm being reminded that I no longer have a President who will fight to uphold my freedom of speech, and therefore I should be 'careful' of what I write. To directly quote the MNDF guy: "i urge you not to touch with islamic issues'(sic)
It is easy to imagine that my criticism of the current police state will not go down well with the criminals in power. Such a shame that after three years, I have to once again start thinking of potential consequences before I write.
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