COLOMBO: The exiled former leader of the Maldives announced plans on Sunday to take control of the national parliament after hammering out a rare unity pact with his politically influential erstwhile enemies. Mohamed Nasheed said he entered into a pact with three other parties to wrest control of the 85-member national parliament currently held by President Abdulla Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives.

He said former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a half-brother of Yameen, signed an agreement at the weekend vowing to work together to secure, among other things, freedom for those convicted of politically motivated charges. “We are going to prove our majority in parliament on Monday,” he told AFP during a visit to Colombo.

Last month, he said he would return to run for election as president of the Maldives, despite facing jail after a controversial conviction on terror-related charges. He became the Maldives’ first democratically elected president in 2008, but was narrowly defeated in 2013 elections by Yameen. He was later jailed on terrorism charges. He has lived in exile for the past year after Maldives authorities gave him leave to travel to London for medical treatment.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2017