On April 29, 2024, a minor altercation was reported to have happened between Indians in Maldives and a couple of Indians near Central Park in Hulhumale, Maldives, around seven km northeast of Male. The clashes broke after two groups at around 9 PM after which a couple of people suffered injuries and were shifted to Hulhumale Hospital. Meanwhile, the local police had detained one of the Maldivians for launching an alleged attack.
As per the reports, the unidentified injured persons were released after being treated well in the hospital. In another similar incident, an Israeli woman was harassed by the locals of Maldives and was kicked out of the island on April 30, 2024. The Incident was proudly shared by Muad Mohamed Zaki, one of the founders of the Maldives multi-party democratic system.
Sharing the blurred photograph of the Israeli woman, Zaki wrote on X, “Israeli tourist tried to enter one of the islands in the Maldives for a holiday while her country commits genocide She was kicked out of the island by the local community and the last reports indicate she was back to the airport after realizing humanity does not welcome them anymore.”
It is important to note that the Maldives is densely Muslim populated island stood by Palestine during the recent altercation that happened between Israel and Palestine. The Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 23, 2023, and brutally murdered men, raped women and even killed children and elders. Many women were stripped naked and paraded by the Hamas terrorist organisation after which the Jewish nation launched a retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip.
Amid this several Islamic countries including Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Maldives etc, sided with Palestine and criticised Israel for launching an attack on Palestine. The Maldivian Government recently unanimously voted on a resolution condemning Israeli aggression on Palestine thus prohibiting entry of Israeli passport holders and import of Israeli made goods. On October 2023, the Saud Husain, the Member of Parliament for ViIlingili sponsored a resolution that gained unanimous approval from 41 members.
The parliamentary committee denounced the Israeli troops abuses against Palestinians in the occupied regions of West Bank and Gaza Strip. The majority of the called for an outright ban on Israeli products and imports and it urged the government to cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.
As per a reporter from an Indian media agency, the Maldives islands have proceeded to become one of the most radicalised and extremist regions which is the hub of not only the ISIS operatives, but also Pakistan based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). “The Maldives between 2014 to 2018 sent more people to fight jihad for the Islamic State than any other country in the world. 250 men and women from Maldives went to fight the ISIS. Many died, he said.
“That Israeli tourist should consider herself lucky she was thrown out of the radicalised country and environment She is lucky to have escaped alive. The level of radicalisation of youth in Maldives has been a cause for concern. Pakistan, ISIS, LeT and JeM have active presence in the island nation,” he further added, in a series of posts on social media site X.
As per the reports following the 2004 Tsunami, the growth of Islamic radicalism in the Maldives accelerated. According to 2022 census, the population of the Maldives is 5.15 lakh with 1.32 lakh foreigners, the majority of them are from the neighbouring South Asian nations and work in different blue-collar jobs. Administratively, the Maldives has 189 islands, 18 atolls, and for cities.
For hundreds of years, the Maldives population was pre-dominatively Buddhist. In the 12th century, however, many of them converted to Islam. In 2004, the as the waters of the Indian Ocean dwindled, religious experts and people from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia gathered in large numbers in the capital Male to offer assistance to the population.
In actuality, the majority of the groups including Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s charity arm which used their arrival in Male to preach communal Islam. When these groups left, the Maldives they brought with them naïve and unemployed teenagers for religious training in Pakistan and Arabia. The charitable wing was later classified as a terrorist organisation by the US administration in April 2006.
In a paper delivered in December 2011, at the Naval Postgraduate School in California titled Islamism and Radicalism in Maldives by Hassan Amir, it was highlighted that the capital city of Maldives, Male had become more radicalised. Amir is now a senior officer in the Maldivian National Force, according to his argument, Maldivians have been seeking ideological and operational inspiration from regional radical groups since the 1990’s.
More than a dozen youths, who have attended an educational institution in Pakistan operated by the Jamiyah-al-Salafiyya had been indoctrinated against the government of Qayoom. They entertained and expressed sentiments of anti-government coups and the desire to institute a theocratic Sharia based state in the Maldives, Amir Wrote.
The thesis reveals that the Maldivian youth in Pakistan were arrested and banished to remote islands, but continued preaching without the fear of law and order. During the Afghan war, the many students studied in Pakistani seminaries and travelled to jihadi camps. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami aided regional terrorist organisations in the Maldives as the country faced significant devastation.
Terrorists under the guise of Charity organisations provided humanitarian aid a financial assistance to affected populations. These groups also provided ideological guidance to disaster-stricken Maldives youth enrolling them in Pakistani religious seminaries or recruiting them for sinister purposes. Particularly in the Laamu atoll region.
Moosa Inas, one of the perpetrators of the 2007 Sultan Park in Maldives bomb explosion that injured more than twelve international visitors was among the providing help on behalf of this mysterious financier. Inas and his fellow fighters made it obvious to the unfortunate islanders that the money they had at their disposal would only be spent on that willingness to join them in promoting their communal Islamic ideology.
In addition to this specific group, the charitable organisations like as Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) occurred to be very important. The IKK has connections to the Ahl-e-Hadith sects that operate in the region and they have also established themselves in Maldives. The IKK is also connected to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the more dangerous Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan based terror organisations responsible for several assaults in India, Pakistan and other parts of the region.
The linkages between Islamic Charity organisations and active evangelising are visible in the shifting Islamic discourse and behaviours that are spreading through Maldivian society. The scope of radicalism in the Maldives became obvious later on. In December 2019, the Islamic ministry suspended the preaching licenses of three professors of advocating terrorism.
Spreading hatred, encouraging inhumane and degrading acts along with supporting civil wars in other countries. It was part of the crackdown after in formation revealed that Maldives had approximately 1400 radicals willing to kill in services of Islam. The Maldives also has the terrible reputation of supplying the most foreign fighters per capita to Syria and Iraq, who went to fight for ISIS.
The research by Amirs among others cautioned that the ultra-conservative religious ideologies supported by foreign sources were radicalising traditional and religious beliefs to the detriment progressive societal objectives embodied in the Maldivian democratic constitutions. From 2013 to 2018 the Maldives has the highest number of fighters heading to Syria.
Recently in January 2024, a major conflict erupted between Maldives and India after a couple of ministers from the island made derogatory comments against PM Modi. Ministers namely Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef and Mahzoom Majid had called PM Modi a clown and a puppet of Israel in response to his post on Lakshadweep Islands. The minsters were suspended by the Maldivian government and thus bilateral relations between the two nations soured
Later though the government distanced itself from the comments made by the Maldivian ministers several Indian tourists cancelled their plans to Maldives and considered visiting Lakshadweep instead under the Exploring Indian Islands trend that had emerged on social media amid the spat between two countries.
Maldives is a small island nation with a population of 5,20,000 and is significantly reliant on India for essentials such as food, infrastructure and technological developments. However, its radicalised and extremist ideological shift towards Islam supporting the Hamas terrorists against Israel and other groups alike remains a concern. Maldives is also known for lack of religious freedom from non-Muslims.
As per reports, tourists cannot practice their religion in the Maldives and cannot worship in public areas. Recently, three Indian visitors were arrested in Maldives for placing the idol of gods there. In the given case, also a Maldivian has been detained for launching an attack on Indians. However, the injured individuals have been released after being provided with proper medical care. Further investigations are underway.
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