Maldives: Coming to Grips with Religious Extremism

MALDIVES: Coming to Grips With Religious Extremism:

By Dr. S.Chandrasekharan.

For a small country of its size and homogenous population, one would expect Maldives to have the least of the problems when compared to other countries of South Asia. But it does not appear to be so.

The bankrupt economy which President Nasheed took over last year is showing signs of recovery. There has been progress in preventing movement of drugs through the country with seizures this year amounting to what has been seized in the whole of last 10 to 15 years, though the addiction level continues to be more than ten percent of the population as before.

But there is one area where the government has been slow in even acknowledging that they have a problem- and that is religious extremism.

In my earlier paper of 2476 of September 29, 2007, followed by another paper 3137 of 7, April 2008, I had pointed out that Islamic Extremism will be one of the major challenges to any future government in view of the unrestricted arrival of qualified and unqualified clerics from abroad and new religious organisations springing up in different names without any restriction.

The paper of 7, April 2008, also referred to the arrest of 9 armed Maldivians on 2^nd of April of that year by the Pakistani authorities in South Waziristan. The paper of 29 September referred to the Sultan Park bombing and the involvement of nationals of another neighbouring country.

Though the problems relating to religious extremism were known in Gayoom’s time and even now, there appeared to be a tendency on the part of the authorities not to play it up and actions if any had been tentative, sporadic and half hearted.

It now appears that President Nasheed’s Government has decided to come to grips with the ground realities and his weekly radio broadcast of 30^th October gives a frank discussion on the problem. The points made by President Nasheed were

* His Government has given a lot of thought on the issues of activities of religious fundamentalists operating in Maldives.

* The Government has information that 10 Maldivians have died so far in the ongoing war in South Waziristan. ( Other reports indicate that so far 12 have died)

* Some of the parents of the Maldivians who are in South Waziristan, believed that their children had gone for higher education and not for fighting a war.

* There are close to one hundred Maldivian nationals in Waziristan and even in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

* A hundred more Maldivian nationals have received military training in Pakistan to fight a war or for some other activities.

* There are also a few Maldivians locked up in Pakistani jails.

* There are also Maldivians who have received such training and are back in Maldives.

* He proposes to take action in consultation with the security and defence agencies in the country.

* Religious extremism is an international issue. ( It may be international, but Maldives in view of its size and population cannot afford to withstand an offensive of the type witnessed elsewhere!)

* He has cautioned parents not to send their children to Pakistan or even to India to study in Madrassas. Even students sent to Pak Universities could be recruited for extremist activities.

The Minister of Islamic Affairs said on 2^nd November that fighting a war is not the only part of Jihad and people from Maldives have gone to Waziristan in the mistaken belief that war is the only way for attaining Jihad.

The Minister revealed that three years ago he came across a group of women who were leaving Maldives to fight a religious war in the name of Jihad. They were advised and told that fighting is not the right way to Jihad. The women returned to their homes.

The 2007 report of HRCM ( Human Rights Commission of Maldives) warned that religious extremism was the greatest challenge facing the country. It recommended as a solution to advise and engage the radicalised groups and disseminate accurate information on Islam.

On 8^th November this year, the Al Qaeda showed a video clip ( available in You tube- even some Maldivian media carried it) of a Maldivian national who reportedly killed himself in a suicide attack. The person - Ali Jaleel aged 30 of Male said that he would wage jihad and die as a martyr. He also said that he wanted his blood to form part of the carpet of Mujahideen taken from their blood and that the red carpet would take the Ummah to its glory!

It is important to note that Nasheed’s government has now openly admitted the serious problem, the country is facing and the need to find an immediate solution rather than push it under the carpet as was done before.

Action has to be taken at multi lateral levels both by the government and by other social institutions. In October 2006, Dr. Hassan Saeed former Attorney General and Minister Jameel Mohammed had prepared a report with 13 actionable points to increase the awareness of religious values and combating religious extremism.

It should be possible for the government to review and modify if need be, the recommendations and implement them after a broad consensus, if necessary of all the political parties.

The issue is urgent and cannot wait any longer.