Maldives Vice President Impeached

The Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb is impeached over his alleged role in a blast on the President  Abdulla Yameen’s speedboat.

Yameen and First Lady were travelling to Male from the airport on September 28 when an explosion took place.

They had returned home that morning after concluding their visit to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage.

current affairsThe president was unhurt, but the first lady suffered a spinal fracture and still remains in hospital.

After the incident, which the government said was an assassination attempt, government declared a state of emergency in the country.

Vice president impeached after 61 members of the 85-member parliament voted in favour.

Yameen declared the state of emergency citing threats to national security after officials said an explosive device was discovered near his residence in Male, as well as stashes of weapons.

Maldives military had confirmed that the suspected device found was an improvised explosive device which had been subsequently been defused.

“Maldives is a close neighbor; we are monitoring the developments very, very closely,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

The United States, the Commonwealth and rights groups have called on the Maldives to lift its state of emergency and end a crackdown on dissidents.

Rights group Amnesty International said the government should not use the order to silence free speech or infringe on other human rights.

India is monitoring the situation closely after the Maldivian President declared a one-month emergency, continuing on the path of political instability.

As international pressure mounts on the Maldives to lift the emergency imposed a day ago and its parliament voted to impeach the country’s arrested vice president, close neighbor India declined to comment, except to say it is monitoring the situation “very, very closely”.