Paper no. 1086	14.08.2004
UNEASY CALM, RUMOURS GALORE IN MALDIVES By B.Raman Following the proclamation of a State of Emergency by President Abdul Gayyoom of the Maldives, there has been an uneasy calm in Male, its capital, with no fresh incidents of violence reported. The much-hated National Security Service (NSS), taking advantage of the absence of protesting demonstrators in the streets, has been making house-to-house searches and arresting known and suspected activists of the anti-Gayyoom and pro-democracy movement. 2.Over 90 fresh arrests have been reported so far. It is not known whether the five activists, whose arrests since August 9,2004, provoked the demonstrations on the night of August 12,2004, and who were released in a futile bid to calm the demonstrators, have been re-arrested. 3. Though the NSS has strictly enforced a curfew and ordered the suspension of all Internet services, the supporters of the pro-democracy movement have managed to continue to wage   their"War for Democracy Through WWW"  and kept their supporters in the country as well as outside informed of the goings-on in the country. 4. Demands for the resignation of President Gayyoom and Minister of State for Defence Anbaree Abdul Sattar continue to circulate through the Internet. There has been a spate of rumours in the Maldives as well as in the community of Maldivian exiles abroad  that President Gayyoom and his family have fled to the UK, but these rumours do not appear to be correct. 5. Thwarted in their efforts for a sustained street battle to achieve democracy by Gayyoom's proclamation of Emergency and imposition of curfew, the supporters of the democracy movement have managed to keep up their barrage of psychological warfare through the Internet against the Gayyoom regime, which they are comparing to the overtrhrown Baathist regime of former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. They are projecting Gayyoom as no different from Saddam Hussein insofar as the violation of the human rights of the people is concerned. 6. In this Web war for democracy, an online journal called "Sandhaanu - Alternative Solution to Media Suppression in the Maldives" has been playing a very active role. Despite the arrests of five of its leading brains---Mohamed Zaki,Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, Naushad Waheed, Ibrahim Fareed and Fathimath Nisreen--- who have reportedly been proclaimed as Prisoners of Conscience by the London-based Amnesty International, the Web War continues unabated, totally outsmarting the NSS. 7. The Gayyoom Government has been facing difficulty in suppressing this Web War due to the fact that the Internet services in the country are largely controlled  by the  Cable & Wireless (C&W), reportedly a British company. There has been considerable sympathy for the democracy movement in the UK. The Amnesty International and some members of the British Parliament have been extending support to the democracy movement. Apparently under pressure from them, Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, had written to Gayyoom in June, 2004, on the question of political reforms in the country. 8.The C&W has come under pressure from both the Government and the democracy activists. While the Government has been pressurising it to stop the misuse of the Internet allegedly for promoting a mutiny by the democracy activists, the latter have been accusing it of  complicity with the Government's abusive Internet censorship. 9. In a statement issued on the morning of August 14, 2004,   the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which has been spearheading the democracy movement, has stated as follows: "President Gayyoom has ruled the Maldives for the past 26 years as a police state. The international outcry against his brutal rule, following the torture/killing of an unarmed prisoner last September, forced Gayyoom to offer an insincere agenda of reform. His call for open debate and discussion was well received by his countrymen who were longing for greater freedom and participatory democracy. When he realized the people were taking his offer seriously, Gayoom systematically reneged on his promises and clamped down on the people’s constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. "The crackdown culminated in invoking a Proclamation of Emergency yesterday, Friday 13th, following a demonstration started on 12th evening. The demonstrators, numbering in their thousands, called upon the Government for the release of the recently detained pro-democracy activists. They also called for the resignation of some of Gayyoom's hard-line Ministers. "The National Security Service (NSS), assisted by a militia controlled by Gayyoom's hard-line brother Minister Yameen, Executive Secretary to the President, Abdullah Shahid and Police Commissioner Adam Zahir is on a rampage of violence against pro-democracy activists. Activists were beaten up in their homes and were also subject to verbal abuse and threats by the NSS.  Rubber bullets and tear gas, too, were used. MDP members Muad Zaki and Ziyad were so brutally beaten they are under intensive medical care. "Among those arrested are leading businessman Hon. Gasim Ibrahim (former President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce), Hon. Ibrahim Hussein Zaki (former Minister of Planning and former Secretary General of SAARC), Hon. Muhammed Munavvar (former Attorney General) and Hon. Ibrahim Ismail. All four are members of the Special Majlis. "The hard-line members of Gayyoom's family, led by Minister Yameen, have openly and defiantly indicated that they will maintain their stranglehold on power using every method at their disposal. This militia is behind the spate of death threats and hate mail being circulated in Male'. They act as agents provocateurs and operate openly and freely with total impunity under the protection of the NSS. "The Maldivian Democratic Party strongly appeals to the international community to take the dangerous developments in Maldives seriously and to take positive and effective steps to ensure that the country does not slide into further chaos and violence." 10. Sources close to the MDP have also stated as follows:  The declaration of an emergency  is the second major crackdown in Maldives this year, coming exactly six months after a series of early morning NSS raids on Maldivian Democratic Party supporters in February. "Since then, the reform movement has grown significantly in numbers and sophistication. Elections for a Special Majlis, to prepare changes to the constitution, saw many democratic reformers selected in the atolls and the capital, and large meetings in Male' have consolidated public understanding and support for the reforms. "A rump of Maldivian Democratic Party members in the Special Majlis walked out of the opening session in protest against controls imposed by the President's brother Abdullah Hameed. Over the following days and nights, large crowds gathered in defiance of Gayyoom's arbitrary bans. The crowds openly supported the reformist agenda to restrict the power of the President, make Ministers and officials accountable to Parliament, and specifically allow multi-party elections. "This threat to Hameed's control of the majlis and the atolls could not be tolerated by the President who appointed him. Hameed's role as Gayyoom's enforcer is legally and morally indefensible; so it is not mentioned in the government media. Grave allegations of corruption, maladministration, and sexual assault and misconduct surround Abdullah Hameed but the President needs him as the kingpin holding together Gayyoom's unofficial Baathist party in the majlis and enforcing obedience among the atoll and island chiefs outside Male'. "Gayyoom has been harassing and provoking the reformists for weeks. They responded with non-violent tactics that frustrated the NSS's attempts to stop meetings. Abdulla Yameen, the Minister of Trade and another brother of the President, organised a gang of thugs which operated with impunity but also failed to disrupt the crowds. "Out-manoeuvred by the Maldivian Democratic Party, Maumoon Gayyoom resorted to arresting several reformist media technicians and then provoked the conservative Islamic community by taking Preacher Ibrahim Fareed to court on Wednesday for sentencing on charges of encouraging religious disunity. Fareed, educated at Qatar university, is a licenced Maldives Government preacher and a vocal supporter of multi-party elections and legal reform. "Maumoon Gayyoom has spread false information that Fareed is a violent terrorist. In May 2004 the Ministry of Information broadcast blatant lies accusing Fareed of terrorist crimes and the same lies were repeated again in Dhivehi (the local language) by the Aafathis newspaper on 12 August. "Despite these incitements by Gayyoom, the reformists assembled peacefully and in huge numbers on Thursday night in a vigil at the Republican Square which continued with speeches and occasional brief disturbances into Friday. "The President has the delusion that he is the saviour of Maldives and he finds blunt personal criticism deeply offensive. The President believes dissent from his will is treason and that fear is the key to remaining in power. He revels in hours of official pomp and ceremony, and enjoys watching videos of his prisoners being tortured and beaten at NSS prisons around Male'. He boasts to his fellow NSS officers about the letters he receives from his victims' families begging for the release of their loved ones. "Maumoon Gayyoom is enraged that Male' would dare turn against him and demand his resignation. He is responding as he always does---with lies and persecution." 11. Reports that Anbarree Abdul Sattar had recently visited New Delhi and met the leaders and officials of the new Government there have caused unhappiness among the democracy activists as indicating a lack of Indian sympathy for the democracy movement. ( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com )
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