Former president of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has heavily criticized incumbent state head Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom for his Monday night declaration of state of emergency in the country.
"President Yameen has thrown Maldives into a chaotic pit," said president Nasheed in a phone-interview with opposition aligned Raajje TV on Monday night.
In his interview, the self-exiled president urged the Maldives security forces to take a stand with the Maldivian citizens and defy corrupt government figures in their autocratic rule.
He also encouraged the Maldivian citizens for an uprising against the government, and plead them to save the country from the rule of president Yameen. President Nasheed assured triumph to the opposition movement and called the incumbent president's administration a failed government.
Former president Nasheed's comments come moments after the legal affairs minister Azima Shukoor read out loud the president's declaration of state of emergency.
President Yameen has declared emergency state for 15 days and suspended as many as 20 constitutional rights for the duration along with the criminal procedure Act.
The island nation has been plunged into fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the immediate release of jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.
More than three days after the Supreme court ordered the immediate release of as many as nine political prisoners, government has thus far refused to comply.
The desperate move came after president Yameen's last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed after the apex court rejected the government's 'legal and judicial' concerns over the order.
Hours after the letters were read out by Azima, ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) deputy leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla told reporters that the court had refused to even accept the letters saying that it was a 'holiday'.
The Fonadhoo lawmaker said the refusal to even accept the letters proves that the rulings of the top court have been compromised and outside the contours of the laws. Raheem further said Supreme Court has 'paralyzed' the lower courts and urged the president to "execute his constitutional powers" to the full.
"This is the time the entire nation needs to come together to stand behind their elected president. Don't believe what the opposition are saying. Nothing will happen the way they [opposition] want," he insisted.
