A taxi parked near Galolhu youth centre was damaged by fire last night, police reported.
Police said that the incident occurred at 2:30am. There was no one inside the vehicle and nobody was injured during the incident.
Police said they suspected that the vehicle was deliberate set on fire.
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(0)The parliament yesterday voted to dismiss amendments to the decentralisation bill proposed by the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Out of the 69 MPs present, 37 MPs voted against the amendments while 32 voted to continue the bill. One MP abstained.
The controversial bill has seen protests outside parliament and mass-walkouts by MPs. As a result of yesterday’s vote, the DRP’s key sticking point on the issue, the concept of provinces, has been defeated.
DRP MP Ahmed Nihan has previously told Minivan News that while the DRP has never been against decentralisation, as the Constitution states the country should be run by a decentralised government – “it is unconstitutional” to divide the country into seven provinces and not the stipulated 21 regions.
MDP MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor, who presented the bill on behalf of the government, said the party’s objective had been to amend some articles in the decentralisation bill.
”There are some articles in (the recently approved) bill that alienates the islands both socially and economically,” said Gafoor.
Gafoor said MDP proposed the amendments in a bid to make the country economically sustainable.
”When all the powers of the executive are taken by the parliament, the pace of reform slows,” Gafoor said. ”There are many cunning articles included in the decentralisation bill added by the opposition.”
However, DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom said that the government proposed the amendment to the bill to gain more influence by narrowing the power of the people.
”I would not say it was a bill of amendment, it was more a bill that was proposed to reverse the bill previously approved,” said Mausoom. ”The government just want to promote their dictatorship,” he added.
”Local governance is about letting people make their decisions on their own for themselves,” he suggested.
(0)Dislikes(0)A 21 year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly stabbing her 34 year-old ex-husband to death near Woodapple restaurant in Male’.
Police said the man died in hospital on Tuesday afternoon while he was receiving medical treatment.
Police Sergeant Abdul Muhusin declined to reveal further information on the case “as the investigation is ongoing.”
The criminal court trial began yesterday with murder charges presented against Mariyam Nazaha by state prosecutor Dheebaanaz Fahmy.
According to daily newspaper Haveeru, Fahmy claimed Nazaha hid a knife in her bedroom with the intention of stabbing Hassan Shahid, of Machangoalhi Edhuruge.
Nazaha acknowledged the charges and denied them, Haveeru reported. Her lawyer, Ahmed Abdulla Afeef, said he would review the documents before responding to the charges.
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter told Minivan News the victim was stabbed by his ex-wife, after they separated some time ago.
He said he saw the victim run out of Baikendi in the Henveiru district of Male’ yesterday afternoon, enter a nearby shop and ask the shopkeeper to call the police as he had been stabbed.
”At first people in the shop thought he was joking, but then he took his hands from the wound and showed them the blood,” said the source. ”He was stabbed once in the lower back.”
The source told Minivan News that two passing police men stopped and assisted the injured man, while police headquarters sent more officers to the scene.
”He was taken to ADK hospital for treatment and later died,” he said.
The source claimed the man was stabbed inside the house where his ex-wife lived.
”He used to come to that house but he was not allowed inside,” the source said. ”They have a child that he comes to visit.”
He said the incident may have been the result of a court ruling yesterday regarding the child’s guardianship.
(1)Dislikes(0)Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Afrasheem Ali has proposed amendments to the religious unity act.
Presenting the bill, Dr Afrasheem said that social unity among Maldivians was weaker than it had been in the past.
”One reason for this [disruption] is issues of religion, particularly disputes over worship and (scholars) criticising each other,” Dr Afrasheem.
He proposed that the Shafi sect be enshrined as the basis of Islam in the Maldives.
”I selected the Shafi sect because it is the sect most friendly, most accepted and most widely followed sect in Islam,” he said.
People’s Alliance (PA) Party MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakuru said that the bill was necessary for the country.
”The Maldives used to be a country which was an example of social unity, but now we see cracks in that fort,” said Jamal.
Independent MP Ibrahim Muthalib also supported the bill.
”This is a very important bill,” said Muthalib, recommending several amendments to article 2(d) and article 2(e), after observing that the bill could potentially narrow the opportunity for foreign scholars to preach in the Maldives.
DRP MP Ahmed Mahloof also supported the bill.
”I recall during the last presidential elections, the Adhaalath party – which claimed to be promoting and protecting religion – tried to make (people believe) that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was a Christian,” said Mahloof. ”This is the situation of our country today.”
He said that it was very important to resolve disputes among people.
Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and MP Mariya Didi thanked Dr Afrasheem for presenting the bill to amend the Religious Unity Act, observing that “our forefathers have protected the religion for 800 years.”
In May the Islamic Ministry announced that it had completed the new religious unity act, and has sent it to the government’s gazette for publication.
However when the new regulations were completed many organisations expressed concern over the regulations and it was held by the president’s office for amendments.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Secretary General of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Ahmed Shah has confirmed that Sheikh Nasrulla Mustafa has signed to join the party.
Shah said Sheikh Nasrulla was “a well educated and very capable person”, and that his decision to sign with MDP was a major progression for the party.
”He signed the application form last week and it has now been sent to Elections Commission (EC) for approval,” Shah said. ”Then he will officially be a member of MDP.”
Sheikh Nasrulla declined to comment on this story, instead recommending that Minivan News clarify his application with the EC.
”If I applied and if the EC approved [my application] then I will be a member of MDP,” said Sheikh Nasrulla, when asked to confirm his application.
Religious website Raajjeislam reported that Sheikh Nasrulla had recently declared that the purpose of forming political parties and NGOs was to create splits in a society, and these institutions were therefore against the principles of the as-salaf as-saliheen (the earliest converts to Islam).
The website also said that Sheikh Nasrulla has in his sermons claimed that voting was not allowed in Islam, and that it was an ‘enmity’.
Raajjeislam’s report claimed that the government was attempting to trying to displace the Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari and State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed from their posts.
According to daily newspaper Haveeru, the Islamic Ministry has recently restricted Sheikh Nasrulla from using microphones inside mosques to deliver sermons, which Sheikh Nasrulla claimed was preventing him from preaching.
Haveeru reported that the restriction was put in place by the Islamic Ministry because of “numerous complaints” the Ministry had received.
Sheikh Nasrulla has reportedly disputed the lectures of other prominent Islamic scholars during his sermons, including Dr Zakir Naik, who recently visited the Maldives.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police Sergeant Abdul Muhusin has said police are holding 25 castaways in police custody in Dhoonidhoo, while waiting for their respective countries to identify them and provide necessary documents.
Muhusin said that all the castaways would be repatriated when they are identified by their countries.
”The latest castaways (six Somalians) who were rescued on May 16 are currently being kept in Dhoonidhoo custodial,” Muhusin said. ”They were brought there after they were discharged from hospital.”
Muhusin said that many of the castaways carried no passport or identity cards, or any document clarifying who they were and where they were from.
”That’s why it’s taking some time to repatriate them,” Muhusin said.
Police said that the 25 castaways included seven people who were saved on December 1 last year, five people rescued on December 5, seven people saved on May 12 this year and the six men recently discovered in a dinghy near Makunudhoo.
”Police are investigating everyone,” Muhusin said. ”They have claimed that they were out for fishing.”
”They have not been arrested,” Muhusin emphasised.
State Home Minister Ahmed Adil said the investigation of the castaways was still ongoing and he had no idea when they could be repatriated.
State Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said that the Somalian government and Maldivian government together were trying to identify all the men who claimed to be Somalians.
”We have sent the Somalian government pictures of the castaways,” Naseem said.
He said he had no information about the Iranian vessel which was found in Maldivian waters in May, referring Minivan News to the home ministry
However, Adil said he had no information about Iranian vessel.
In May the Maldives Coastguard rescued an Iranian fishing vessel in Maldivian territorial waters, discovering that the crew have been deprived of water and food for several days.
Another Somalian boat was found with a crew of six men on board drifting near the island of Makunudhoo in Haadhaalu Atoll.
Makunudhoo islanders who rescued the men said it appeared they had been drifting in the tiny 12-15 foot vessel for three months without food or water.
(0)Dislikes(0)A husband who snatched his one year old daughter from his separated wife and fled on a speedboat to Nolhivaram was arrested on Friday.
The man, who separated from his wife and now lives on a different island, took the infant from her mother and fled on a speedboat from Kurinbi to Nolhivaram in Haa Dhaalu Atoll.
An islander told Minivan News that the man arrived at Kurinbi on Friday during prayers, while all the men were at the mosque.
He said that the man came along with a group of people.
”Some of the men stayed as his bodyguards,” the islander said. ”He came with two men and grabbed the baby while the baby was with its sister.”
The islander said the two men who came with father of the baby held the sister’s hand while father grabbed the child.
”The couple lived in Nolhivaram and the woman is a islander of Kurinbi – when they separated she came back to Kurinbi,” he said. ”It’s been five months now she has been trying to get divorced.”
An islander from Nolhivaram familiar with the matter said the man rented the speedboat and went to his wife’s island to try and bring his child back with him.
He claimed the women took the baby when she left without informing her husband.
”The father sometimes went to Kurinbi to see his daughter, but his wife never showed her,” he said. ”So he went to Kurinbi and brought his daughter back.”
He said that the woman left Nolhivaram last year December.
”Her husband did not like her speaking to other people or going to other houses,” he said. ”She did not like it that way, that is why she left, as far I know.”
He said that the women had worked as a school teacher during her time on Nolhivaram.
”His family and everyone advised him not to take his daughter like that,” the islander said.
(0)Dislikes(0)Arch Enemy, the world famous ‘melodic Death Metal band’ is scheduled to perform at the first international Death Metal concert in the Maldives.
The band is booked for the third series of RockStorm, organised by CQ, and scheduled for July 23 at Alimas Carnival stage, CQ managing director, Mohamed Rasheed, told Minivan News.
”The show is mainly for younger people, so the price of the tickets would not be higher than MRF200,” said Rasheed. ”Rock Storm is sponsored by Le Cute.”
Rasheed said ticket numbers would be limited. ”The venue has the space for 2-3000 people,” he said. ”We are thinking of extending the place to allow for 5000 people.”
The biggest concern was that this year many scheduled events were cancelled by various organisers, said Rasheed.
”So people might think the same thing will happen to our show,” he said, ”but we have got permission from the government and this is the third year we have held RockStorm.”
Michael Amott, founding member and guitarist of Arch Enemy, commented on the band’s official website: “Just when we thought we’d run out of new territories to play with Arch Enemy… This offer came to us through the good people at Rock Storm in the Maldives… Curious as we are – we obviously grabbed the opportunity to go and do this! We’ll bring the tunes and sunscreen SPF 666!”
So far this year, there have been two international artists who were booked and then failed to perform in the Maldives.
Sri Lankan organisation Platinum Entertainment on March 30 announced that it would host an event presenting world famous R&B singer Akon live in the Maldives at the Outdoor Cricket stadium last April 23.
A few weeks after the Islamic ministry expressed concern about the event, it was cancelled for at least six months, due to technical and security concerns.
Well-known Bollywood star Shakhrukhan was scheduled to perform in the Maldives at another event which was cancelled for similar reasons. It was also reported that the Bollywood star’s performance was cancelled due to poor tickets sales.
(0)Dislikes(0)A 16 year-old boy was stabbed by a group of four men last Thursday night.
The men came on motorbikes when the victim was near Fen building on Ameenee Magu, a person familiar with the victim told Minivan News.
”There were some friends of the boy nearby,” he said, ”but before they could help him, the attackers fled.”
He said the victim was stabbed once in the back and that he was not seriously injured.
”The attack on the boy was not because he was looking for a fight. It was a random attack,” he said. ”When they see anyone of us alone, they will come and stab that person. It doesn’t matter even if he is a friend.”
He said that the gangs have been fighting with each other for a long time, and sometimes stop for a while, but the battle is never really over.
The victim was admitted to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) for treatment.
One suspect has been arrested, says police sergeant Abdul Muhsin.
Another 19 year-old man was stabbed in Mahchangolhi during broad daylight last Wednesday.
The man was stabbed four times, said a person familiar with victim.
”He had a deep cut in the back and injured lungs. His left arm was cut very seriously when he tried to block an attack aimed at his head,” said a friend of the victim.
The victim stabbed on Wednesday night told Minivan News that he was attacked on his way home.
”I was near Petral teashop when I met an old friend and he called out to me,” said the victim. ”I stopped to have a chat with him.”
Suddenly a crowd circled around and stabbed him in the back three times, according to the victim.
”Then they all ran away,” he said. ”I was unconscious till I reached hospital.”
When they reached the hospital, he fainted and when he gained consciousness he could not breathe properly because he had been stabbed in the lungs.
He said that his attackers used a normal knife, ”but it had a very thick blade.”
”I do not know why they stabbed me,” he said.
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