Opposition coalition leader and former vice president Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed is yet to arrive in Sri Lanka for a crucial sit-down over the current political strife in the Maldives, Mihaaru understands.
Jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed currently living in exile in Britain has reportedly flown in for the meeting days ago.
According to reliable sources, Nasheed has flown to Sri Lanka to take part in ‘an important sit-down over the present crisis in the Maldives.’
Opposition had said, Jameel who had recently been granted political refugee status by Britain would also join the talks in Sri Lanka.
But the ex-VP is reportedly still in the UK while the reason behind the delay is yet to be confirmed.
Opposition parties, some of which had opposed Nasheed earlier, have united in their campaign against president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
The newly formed MUO had vowed to oust Yameen and form an interim government to ensure free and fair elections scheduled in 2018.
The MUO has brought together the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party, two of Yameen’s former deputies and his former defence minister.
But the opposition has remained rather tight-lipped over the sit-down in Sri Lanka. But opposition officials had admitted that Sri Lanka would play a major role in the opposition efforts to oust president Yameen from office.
The reports of the sit-down came days before BBC had reported of an imminent opposition move against president Yameen.
The British public service broadcaster quoted sources saying the opposition plans to move against the president “within weeks.”
According to the BBC report, details of what is being planned remain obscure but the government has described it as a “formal attempt at ‘legally’ overthrowing the government”.
The report has been met by intense government criticism accusing the opposition of plotting the illegal overthrow of a democratically elected government.
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