'India should push for early elections in Maldives'

Urging India to play a more 'active role' in Maldives, Maldivian Democratic Party today asked the country to 'push' for early polls in the island nation by this year as there are alleged large-scale human rights violations.

'We would like to see India playing a more active role in facilitating election this year itself," Mohammed Aslam, who was Acting minister of Foreign affairs in the cabinet of President Mohamed Nasheed, ousted in a coup on Feb 7 this year, told PTI.

There can be no condemnation from anywhere if India pushes for early election, he said.

'A democratically elected government was 'brought down' not by constitutional means, but by alleged police brutality, oppression, suppressing freedom of assembly. We fear if this continues too long, Maldives will go down on a path from which we cannot re-establish democracy', Ibrahim Ismail, a Human rights activist and Advisor to former President Nasheed, said.

Nasheed, who is currently in USA, is likely to visit New Delhi, soon and meet Indian leaders, they said.

Ismail alleged that from 1978 to 2008, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom used 'coercive', dictatorial and authoritarian methods to stay in power.Elections for Parliament were rigged, Parliament was largely defunct and the Maldives displayed all characteristics of a police state.

For the first time in 2008 a democratically elected government came to power under ex-President Nasheed. Three years later, he was toppled, they said.

'Roots of dictatorship went into hiding, some went into hibernation, democracy did not take roots,' they said.

"We were naive to think that people would change themselves to a better system'. In Egypt Former President Hosni Mubarak was on trial, we didn't do that',Aslam said,adding the present president Mohammed Waheed Hassan was the 'pick of Gayoom,' whose sons and daughters are in various high positions.

"Gayoom had a temporary setback three years ago.... The nepotism is back. There is complete disregard for law and order now," he said.