Maldives government Thursday again invited opposition for the all-party talks amid fresh political turmoil in the archipelago.
The invitation comes at a time when the opposition parties now united in a coalition after main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), now deposed ruling party leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former government coalition partners Jumhoory Party (JP) and religiously conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) penned a treaty to work together, have launched fresh efforts against the government.
Chief government representative to the talks Dr Mohamed Shainee during a press conference on Thursday insisted that the doors remain open for the opposition to engage in dialogue with the government.
"If the opposition has any grievance or concern with the way the government is run, then our door is always open for them to come and work things out," fisheries minister Shainee said.
The minister urged the opposition to use the opportunity to find a resolution to the differences.
"The all party talks is still open. If there are differences then dialogue is the way to resolve it. That would certainly avoid turmoil that would concern the people. So the president really hopes that the opposition would choose this avenue for dialogue," Shainee said.
The all party talks had been led by the Commonwealth and the government's decision to leave the now 52 member bloc last year left question marks over dialogue between the main political parties in the archipelago.
Maldives left the Commonwealth last year citing unfair and unjust treatment weeks after the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – the enforcement mechanism of the Commonwealth – threatened to suspend Maldives from the council if effective steps were not taken to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the archipelago.
Shainee reiterated that the representatives for the talks passed by the councils of the respective parties but added that it had no pre-conditions.
In addition to the Commonwealth, the United Nations had also initiated proxy talks after the main opposition parties refused to sit-down with government demanding the release of all jailed political leaders as a pre-condition for the talks.
