MP Abdulla Riyaz, a former police commissioner, has echoed President Abdulla Yameen’s address on Thursday night about individual officers’ actions smearing the entire policing institute, by saying that officers who allow themselves to be controlled by ‘puppet-masters’ are doing the same. 

Except in a tweet on the same night, MP Riyaz – who is also deputy leader to the opposition Jumhooree Party – had heavily criticized the Yameen administration and alleged that senior officials of the government often ‘use officers in their command’ to do their ‘dirty work’. 

“Some senior members of government using a few officers to conduct their dirty work, defames the entire institution” MP Riyaz said in a tweet. 

In his presidential address at the Maldives Police Service’s 84th anniversary, Yameen cited dwindling reputation and trust for officers as one of the primary obsacles officers face. In this regard, he noted high-ranking officers, former commissioners, and other senior politicians abusing the reputation of the police. 

Further, he said that there were former ‘members of the police’ that now call on citizens to disregard and disobey the authority of the police. 

READ MORE: Some officers act illegally, Police have to be an example to all: Pres. Yameen