Last night a group of people entered a house in Henveiru ward and attacked a middle-aged man while he was asleep in the house, before fleeing with more than Rf 200,000 (US$13,000), a laptop and a mobile phone.
Local media reported that police confirmed the incident, but gave little information about the case.
Newspaper Haveeru reported that the man was attacked with a screw driver and suffered injuries to his head.
Police are investigating the case.
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(0)Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem has delivered a keynote address in Dhaka at the Climate Vulnerable Forum organized by the Government of Bangladesh.
The forum was inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
“Today, conventional wisdom suggests that Copenhagen was a failure,” Naseem said. “I beg to differ. In my opinion, the Copenhagen Accord was not an admission of defeat, but the first step on the road towards a solution – a solution based on the vision laid down in the Male’ Declaration. That vision was simple: that global warming will only be halted when States realize the futility of arguing over whom should cut emissions, and begin competing to become the leaders of the new industrial revolution – a revolution based not on the finite power of coal and oil, but on the infinite power of the sun, sea and wind.”
Minister highlighted that it was the hope of President Nasheed that this year’s meeting will achieve on to remind the world of the plight of the most climate vulnerable countries and in so doing confront the growing sense of apathy and re-energise the international community to act.
Naseem also called for “a strong progressive message [at] COP 17 in Durban, encouraging the UNFCCC to establish a new legal framework on climate change which encourages and helps states take positive action, in other words to invest in low carbon technology, rather than only demanding that they accept negative obligations – namely to cut emissions.”
In his statement Minister also stressed on the challenges and difficulties faced by developing countries in shifting to a low carbon development pathway, and to give guidance to the international community regarding how it can best held and support that shift.
(0)Dislikes(0)Mohammad Majnu Miah has bought some land and rebuilt his house, in which a television and CD player take pride of place, thanks to the remittances his wife and son send him from the Maldives, where they have worked for six years, writes Anis Ahmed for Reuters Africa.
“The money comes to roughly 30,000 taka($400) a month, a small fortune in a nation where one-third of the population survives on $1.25 a day – and is a big part of why some villages, like Shahabazpur, are slowly crawling out of the grinding poverty that grips 30 percent of the Bangladeshi people.
“I have to manage and invest their income here at home. Using their hard-earned money in a meaningful way is not an easy task,” Majnu said. “I plan on buying a refrigerator soon.”
Shahabazpur, which lies around 150 km (90 miles) east of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and about half a kilometre from the bank of the Meghna river, now has three primary schools, at least six mosques, a community clinic, and dirt and asphalt roads connecting many homes.
Most of its 5,500 residents are much better off than they were a decade ago. They grow enough rice and vegetables to feed their families, have savings to support their other needs, and dress in new clothes for festivals and social occasions.
The secret is the remittances from people working abroad, said Abdul Wahid, a village bank employee.
“The money from expatriates is the main source of income for many families,” he said. Roughly a thousand villagers currently work abroad.
They are not alone. More than 7 million Bangladeshis are spread all over the globe, doing everything from running food courts and staffing shops, to tilling land in African nations and tending fruit gardens in the deserts of the Mideast.
They send home roughly $11 billion annually, according to central bank and Bureau of Statistics data, a key earner for a nation whose 2010-2011 GDP came in at $100 billion.
(0)Dislikes(0)The SAARC monument designed and gifted to the Maldives by the Sri Lankan government, has been doused with crude oil.
The lion statue, representing the national symbol of Sri Lanka, was vandalised last night following the toppling, burning and theft of the Pakistani monument, which protesters had claimed was idolatrous.
Council Member of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Ahmed ‘Marz’ Saleem, meanwhile today filed a case with police against the Maldives Customs Department for allowing ‘idols’ to be imported to the Maldives for the SAARC Summit.
The PPM is the party founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, following its acrimonious split with the major opposition party, the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP).
Speaking to Minivan News today, Saleem said that four acts in the Maldives banned the importation of idols, and that the Customs Department should be held responsible for letting the statues be imported into the country.
”It violates the Police Act, Customs Act, Contraband Act and the Religious Unity Act,” he contested.
“I reported the case to the police because it is a criminal offence which has to be investigated by police and sent to the Prosecutor General, to be taken to court according to Maldivian law,” Saleem said. ”We looked into the matter of these idols and found out that these things were not made here, which means they much have been imported from somewhere else.”
He said that displaying the items in public “is another offence. Citizens who love the religion of Islam will not allow such items to kept in public, and will seek to destroy them.”
”Police will have no lawful authority to stop citizens from destroying the idols, because they are illegal and against Islam,” he said, adding that the PPM has filed a second case in the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) demanding investigation of whoever gave orders for police to defend the monuments when citizens went out to destroy them.
”We requested the PIC investigate and find out who exactly gave the orders, who implemented the orders, and to take action against them,” he said.
He also alleged that the current government was attempting “to erase Islam from the country.”
”The current government dissolved the Quran Department, Arabiyya School and women’s mosques, all to erase the religion of Islam,” Saleem alleged.
Spokesperson for the Customs Department, Mohamed Ibrahim, did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam meanwhile confirmed that a case against the Customs Department was filed with police.
(0)Dislikes(0)The monument, which protesters contend is idolatrous, was first knocked off its plinth during the SAARC Summit on the evening prior to its unveiling by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani.
It was subsequently set ablaze and on Monday night, stolen. Two men have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The religious Adhaalath Party and the party of former President of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), have declared those responsible for destroying the monument to be “national heroes”, and vowed to fight for their release in court.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the incident had “affected the Maldives’ long time relationship with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.
The attacks on the monument were “undemocratic” and the type of behaviour that would damage the image of the Maldives to the outside world, the Foreign Ministry said.
Following the first attempt to damage the monument during the SAARC Summit, a member of the Pakistani delegation told Minivan News that it had approached the Foreign Ministry over the incident and was told by an official that it was a rumour spread by the opposition.
In today’s statement, the Ministry said that the monument represented the culture and traditions of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and was not intended to be idolatrous. However because of public concerns the Pakistani government had already agreed to redesign the monument prior to its destruction and theft, the Ministry said.
“There are ways that people can citizens can solve these issues within the principles of democracy and religion,” the Ministry statement read.
Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla this week told Minivan News that the monument “should not be kept on Maldivian soil for a single day” and “should be removed immediately.”
“We believe it conflicts with the constitution of the Maldives, the Religious Unity Act of 1994 and the regulations under the Act,” he said, because it depicted “objects of worship” that “denied the oneness of God.”
Gayoom’s lawyer Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim ‘Wadde’ claimed that the arrest of those who toppled and vandalised the monument were “unlawful,” as they were opposing “something the government did in violation of the constitution.”
(0)Dislikes(0)They say women of any language, culture or religious background share a certain kinship. As a Westerner who has travelled in a variety of places, I have rarely been more mystified by my female peers than in the Maldives.
The Maldives is 100 percent Muslim, with a growing penchant for the burqa. A recent United Nations review of the Maldives found gender equality notably low. Many women hold or would like to hold jobs, while others opt for hijabs and house-wifery. Technically, everyone has a choice. But do they make it in reality?
Many Westerners visit the Maldives for tourism or work. Most visit resorts exclusively, but a handful make their way to Male’ or local islands. Given local cultural standards it should be no surprise to anyone that the foreign woman’s experience in the Maldives is unique. And not just dress code – behavior seems a class unto itself.
While staying on a local island recently I was regularly attended by a flock of young women aged 15-20. Their hospitality was impressive, but at times bordered on intimidating. Walking two blocks home from the beach by myself in broad daylight required a level of assurance to my hosts that was almost aggressive. Arriving somewhere alone surprised and even offended my young hostesses. While I took pictures and clapped along during festivities, walking about as I normally would anywhere, they would spend the time searching for me rather than enjoying the celebration.
Moving in public areas could be difficult as my virtual size was magnified by about three other bodies moving in sync. Several times I would turn at the sink when washing my hands to find a girl had followed me from the eating area because – well, I’m not sure. The place was only so big.
I can’t say if young Maldivian women are unfamiliar with independence, but I can say that this foreigner was befuddled by the level of dependency assumed of her person.
The feeling was neither simple nor justified. I had come to experience local culture – who was I to dictate its terms? Hospitality is meant as a compliment, so why was I so frequently frustrated by my caretakers’ intense caretaking?
My reactions came from the core, so I considered the features.
I walked to school alone at the age of 7, and was free to do anything in or out of doors from age 10 so long as it didn’t involve a trip to the hospital or police station. I accept the consequences of my own actions and deal with my own problems. And I simply aim to cause the least disturbance to those around me. This is a fairly standard upbringing for most Westerners. But its collision with the Maldivian method appears brutal on two points: independence and equality. To be so closely, at times aggressively, attended insulted my independence and aggravated a feminist side I didn’t even know I had.
From a practical standpoint, the reception also complicated rather than facilitated my interactions. As suggested by this article’s opening line, I was curious to meet and learn about local girls and women. But bound by hospitality and its assumptions of dependency, my hostesses were at times difficult to truly reach. I feared their company was based on a need to guarantee that I was never alone or asked to do anything, rather than my personal qualities. My mere presence rendered them dependent as well – if I moved to wash my hands they had to escort me. Yet as a visitor, I wanted to know their culture as it stood alone. What was daily life? What would they do without me around? What did they honestly think of me, anyway? Under the dictates of hospitality, this was nearly impossible.
Some girls willingly shared their musical preferences or accounts of village life. We had some nice chats about their schools and families. Many conversations, however, fizzled at the same point: choice.
During a bodu-beru performance a flock of young girls in hijabs urged me to dance. There were no women on the floor, so I asked someone to join me. I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t imposing, that my participation was appropriate.
“Oh no, we don’t dance, we can’t!” Why not? “We just can’t!” Too shy? “No….we have this!” The burqa. Or hijab. “You should have come two years ago, I was always dancing! But then I took up this, and you know, things changed.”
If the hijab is a fashion statement as some girls allege, then I can judge these girls in terms I would also use for Westerners whose stilettos, skinnies or furs prevent them from running, eating or holding their dribbling child, or whose nails and false eyelashes, allegedly applied to fetch a man, could also shred his scalp. Why do you build your own cage?
But if these young ladies truly accept the many meanings of wearing a hijab and the lifestyle it endorses, then – can I argue? Where is my place in the debate? I am indeed foreign.
I can, however, go dance with a girl who is not wearing religious attire, be joined by a few of younger burqa’d girls as well as the entire female population too young to start the lifestyle, and then smile afterwards when older women grab my hand saying “Shukriya!” that I, a female, danced. Apparently, they all used to, and apparently, they all enjoyed it.
I’ve asked girls why they take up the burqa or hijab. Most respond with shrugs, sideways smiles, confused looks, or explanations like, “It’s, you know, I have many friends who have so it made sense,” or “Well, I just like it but also it seems right.”
As an educated Westerner I’ve been trained not to accept “it seems right” as an answer, and my national curriculum instructed against peer pressure. But this isn’t the West, and I have to accept the local consensus. So, the conversation stops.
And with it, the connection. Our fundamental natures are opposed. I walk alone; they believe it inappropriate. I dance; they’d rather wish they could. These are only basic physical movements, but the differences are profound. Though welcomed on the island I felt alienated by my independence, and though invited into events I felt my race excused my gender and justified my in-congruency. I came to visit, not to be served – the reality frustrated my young Western curiosity.
I’ve studied Islam and its history at the college level, have several friends who practice the faith, and have lived in Muslim regions. I have always been accepted, respected, and welcomed into the fold. I have enjoyed open, free discussions with these friends on a range of topics. I think there are many beautiful aspects to the religion.
Yet in the Maldives I have not yet met a woman who can talk candidly or objectively about the Qur’an. In my country, questions and criticism lead to deeper understanding, but here this rhetoric is shunned as base opposition. Acceptance, not choice, is the cultural undercurrent. Acceptance of my hosts’ duty to the Guest, rather than an assessment of me, the Guest, as a person, governed my visit on the island as well.
Culture shock is funny concept. Though standard teachings describe a four-week rollercoaster to normalcy, experienced travelers might note that they are jarred even after a year’s stay in a foreign culture. Is it ever fair to call something right or wrong? Perhaps we can only admit our differences.
All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]
(0)Dislikes(0)The Supreme Court has concluded hearings of a suit filed by Presidential Commission member Abdulla Haseen, to determine whether independent MP Abdul Hameed’s seat in the parliament is vacant.
The Criminal Court has previously ruled that MP Abdul Hameed was guilty of corruption, a verdict that disqualifies him from holding public office as an MP.
According to the constitution, any MP sentenced to a term longer than one year will be disqualified and his seat will be vacant. Hameed was sentenced to 18 months banishment.
Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Ilham Ahmed, Jumhoory Party (JP) Youth Wing Leader Moosa Anwar, Adam Asif of Laamu Atoll Gan, and Hameed requested the court authorise them to speak in the hearing and were granted permission.
Speaking in the court, Hameed’s lawyer said that he still had a right to appeal any decision, and requested the Supreme Court declare that such a suit could be conducted.
Ilham’s lawyer said that following the ruling of Criminal Court, Hameed’s seat was vacant, and claimed that the parliament was deadlocked because of Hameed’s attempt to sit and take part in the parliament sessions.
He also requested the Supreme Court declare that Hameed could not attend parliament sittings prior to the conclusion of the case.
Asif’s lawyer also contested that Hameed’s seat was now vacant, adding that after the Criminal Court’s ruling, Hameed did not qualify to be an MP.
Concluding the hearing, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz said that there will no more hearings of the suit and that the court will now conclude the case.
(0)Dislikes(0)On the pristine equatorial shores of the Maldives, an archipelago best known for luxurious resort hideaways swathed in coral reefs and cerulean seas, India and China’s regional cold war is warming up, writes Bryson Hull for Reuters.
“Stretched across 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq m) of the Indian Ocean southwest of India, the Sunni Muslim nation of 1,192 islands finds itself sandwiched between the two Asian rivals, and both flexed their muscles at a meeting of South Asian nations hosted by the Maldives last week.
China preceded the heads-of-state meeting of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) by opening its first embassy in the Maldives, a ceremony attended by Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun.
Two Maldivian officials said China had hurriedly rented a space to open the embassy in time for the summit, while the actual embassy is being built. Officials with the Chinese delegation declined repeated requests by Reuters for comment.
“The bureaucrat in me says the timing is right. You want to open something like that when there is a big official around. But opening it right before SAARC is a way to tweak India,” an Asian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
India’s response to China’s diplomatic display included a show of military force and political largesse.
Navy frigates patrolled off the Gan atoll, where the summit was held, to protect VIP visitors including Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a one-day state visit to the capital island, Male.
“This is our extended neighborhood. We wish to work with the Maldives and other like-minded countries to ensure peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region,” Singh told the Maldivian parliament.
India extended a $100 million credit line, inked pacts on maritime and counterterrorism cooperation, and both nations agreed “their respective territories would not be allowed for any activity inimical to the other and by any quarter.”
New Delhi has long been concerned by any moves China makes to boost its presence in neighboring countries, and is worried about the so-called “string of pearls” ambition to expand Chinese maritime influence in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
China made its present felt throughout the SAARC summit. The post-summit giveaway bag included porcelain pens and diaries from the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry detailing “Five Years of China-SAARC Cooperation.” A box for a new 40-inch TV in the media center bore a sticker: “China Aid.”
(0)Dislikes(0)A 35 year-old inmate was found hanged in his cell in Maafushi jail on Tuesday morning, according to Home Minister Hassan Afeef.
Speaking to press this afternoon, Afeef said Abdul Munnim, H. Cozy Corner, who was serving a sentence on drug-related charges, was found dead at around 11.35am in the fifth cell in unit three.
The deceased was alone in the cell today as his cell mate was in Male’ for medical treatment, Afeef explained.
The Home Minister promised a full and thorough investigation “to determine if there was any foul play and if we believe anyone else is culpable, we will take legal action against them.”
A team of journalists was allowed to visit Maafushi jail later in the afternoon by the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) under the Home Ministry.
The family of another inmate in Maafushi jail told Minivan News that some inmates claimed to have “heard a man shouting last night.”
“The inmates knew about his death this morning when prison officers told them about it,” the family member said. “The prisoners said they remember hearing a man shouting that night.”
“The prison officers said that it was a suicide and that he hanged himself using a bedsheet,” he continued. “But that cell he was in when he died is a very small cell and there is no way a person could hang himself to death because that cell will not have enough height.”
The source further claimed that according to prison officers, the deceased was found in a sitting position and his neck was tied to the fence.
“Besides, prison officers are always on duty and it would be impossible to commit suicide in that cell because that’s not a regular cell,” he said. “Prisoners are put there usually when they are caught with something illegal like a mobile phone. The inmates heard that he was put there after prison officers found a mobile [in his possession].”
The source alleged that prison guards told prisoners that the man died of torture and that guards tied his neck to the fence using a bedsheet.
Home Minister Afeef and State Minister for Home Affairs, Mohamed ‘Monaza’ Naeem, currently in charge of DPRS, were unavailable for comment at time of press.
The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair meanwhile told Minivan News that he believed there was “no institutionalised torture permitted under this government,” adding that torture by prison guards would be “a criminal act.”
“There’s no regimen of punishment that could be described as torture,” he said. “Inmates are under lock and key and are looked after. This government does not condone torture and if someone is accused of such a despicable offence, it will be investigated.”
A senior government official noted that it was possible there still existed remnants of “a culture of torture” among staff in the DPRS persisting from the former government, which faced many allegations of custodial abuse.
Heroin epidemic
In March 2009, Minivan News reported that five heroin addicts died of either overdose or suicide in the space of one month.
On 20 March, Abdullah Shiham, 33, an inmate at Maafushi jail serving a 25-year sentence for drug possession, was found dead in his cell. Police revealed at the time that the inmate died of a benzodiazepine overdose.
A forensic examination of drugs seized had uncovered that heroin sold on the streets was laced with benzodiazepine, a class of psychoactive drugs, according to police.
The combination of benzodiazepine with opiates is known to lead to coma and even death.
A week after the inmate’s death, a 33-year old woman hanged herself in Male’. According to her family, she had been in the local rehabilitation centre some years ago and had been sent abroad for treatment on many different occasions.
She committed suicide two months after police caught her with a small amount of heroin and was subsequently fired from her job.
The night before, on 24 March, police rescued a drug addict in Male’ as he attempted to hang himself.
Earlier in the month, another drug addict, a 29-year old woman, was found hanged at her house. She was reportedly denied the chance of rehabilitation by the authorities.
Over 70 percent of inmates in Maafushi jail were incarcerated for drug abuse, possession or drug-related offences.
A discussion paper on judicial reform prepared in June 2005 noted that between February 2000 and September 2003, there was a 243 percent rise in persons serving prison terms, of which 80 percent were convicted of drug offences and 75 percent of those were under 30 years of age.
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