Election cannot be held without deciding on GMR issue
-No agreement between govt and GMR

“I am quiet satisfied. While all these protests against GMR is going in Maldives no Indian Media has taken any concern about it. But atleast now they have noticed the people’s view the corruption deal. There is ongoing corruption storm in India, and I am sad Maldives has been partly effected.”

Press Secretary Abbas Adil Riza has said that elections such as the Presidential Election cannot be held with the GMR still in Maldives.

Abbas said that GMR has been trying to influence in major elections. He said that therefore with the GMR in the Maldives the fairness of elections is in doubt.

Abbas also said that there is no agreement between the government and the GMR. He said that he does not believe that there is any agreement that the government should respect in relation to the issue of GMR.

In reply to a question raised by Miadhu Daily regarding Abbas’s statements in his speech at the Friday night’s protest against GMR, Abbas said that only valid agreements will be respected and regarded as agreements. He said that he does not believe that the agreement made between the former government and GMR is valid.

Abbas said that the Friday night’s protest has shown that the “political leaders” has lost their opportunities in this issue and the people will move forward in this.

Abbas said that all should respect the law even if it is the President. He said that no one should take any action in contradiction to the law.

“The Civil Court has already issued a verdict that the GMR agreement is invalid and void. Therefore there is no reason to cause doubts regarding the validity or invalidity of the agreement,” he said.

During the Friday night’s rally of the National Alliance, Abbas strongly criticized the Indian High Commissioner to Maldives, D. M Mulay alleging that he has been trying to protect the invalid agreement of the GMR while it the invalidity of the agreement has already been established.

Abbas said that although India is a country that the Maldives depends on a lot, the difficulties faced by Maldivian cargo ships in India still remain unresolved. “The rights of the people who export onion, steel rods are violated. We do not see the High Commissioner ever raising concern over these issues,” he said.