AG disappointed with IBA comments

Fiji is not another Zimbabwe.

Those are the words of Attorney General and Minister for Tourism Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who has shown disappointment on comments made by the President of International Bar Association (IBA) that the international Community should continue to put pressure on Fiji to return to democratic rule.

Sayed-Khaiyum said it is disappointing that the IBA yet again continues to assess Fiji in a blinkered and one dimension way.

He said as government stated earlier in a response to the IBA report on Fiji, likening Fiji to Zimbabwe or attempting to draw parallels between Fiji and Zimbabwe, is flawed thinking and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the true situation in Fiji.

He added such remarks are unfortunately paradoxical because on the one hand while the president claims to be adhering to the basic principle of justice he has prejudged the matter without genuinely making an effort to hear from all parties in a transparent and unprejudiced manner.