Friday night’s rally planned by the opposition coalition over the Chagos issue intends to create discord, Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim has claimed.
Qasim earlier appealed to his party members and leadership against joining the opposition rally.
In an interview given to his VTV channel, the influential tycoon said the rally will result in creating discord.
“The result of tonight’s rally will be spreading different rumors and creating discord. There is no other outcome we can hope to see,” Qasim stated.
The presidential candidate of JP said his party was the first to issue a statement of concern over the Chagos issue.
But the only way to move forward is to work through legal means to see if the decision can be changed, Qasim added.
“Will anything change because of tonight’s rally? It will not change the ITLOS [International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea] decision,” he said.
In late April, the disputed territory between the Maldives and Mauritius was demarcated at ITLOS after the government agreed that Chagos belongs to Mauritius.
The opposition has accused the government of “selling” part of the Maldives' territorial waters and vowed to remove “traitors” from power.
