Month: November 2011

India and Pakistan steal show at SAARC: The Nation

Addu city’s resorts have probably never seen so many suits in its equatorial climate before – and probably never will, unless a convention of undertakers comes to town, writes Rameeza Majid Nizami for The Nation.

“As harried delegations tried to squeeze in hurried meeting after meeting to obtain maximum benefit from the event, the feeling remained that all eyes on SAARC were in fact on the two most powerful countries there, India and Pakistan. This time around, I got an opportunity to observe the difference between the work ethic and style of the two regional powers, which I will attempt to describe here. After all, Pakistanis are masters of reverse engineering – when we see something that works well we believe in paying the compliment of ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. And there is no doubt the Indian side at SAARC were the perfect example of doing something simple, well.

“The Indian approach to their work is meticulous. From the diplomats, to the journalists, planning, setting modest, achievable goals and securing equally modest wins through burning good old-fashioned foot leather is the strategy of their success. The speech of the Prime Minister appeared to have been written to portray an image of a humble billionaire and benevolent sugar-daddy.

“Pakistan, by comparison, was to put it in an analogy, the prettiest girl at the party in the dowdy dress and unflattering accent. Exhibiting tremendous potential and receiving the kind of attention reserved for someone genuinely important, whose relevance is expected to continue to increase, Pakistan was observed with keen interest. Trying to deal with every subject under the sun, the Pakistani delivery at SAARC lacked focus, simply because, through the best of intentions, it tried to deal with too much.”

Full story

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Maldives Game Fishing Association hosts awards presentation

The Maldives Game Fishing Association (MGFA) held an awards and presentation dinner at Bandos Island Resort on Saturday night.

Marlin, tuna, wahu and sailfish were weighed, tagged and released before points were awarded. One tuna was not weighed, because as crews were pulling it out of the water for weighing a shark came by and bit it in half. The head was brought to the weigh station, which ended in a clean crescent-shaped bite.

Samples of sailfish were sent off to be tested, some caught fish were used for DNA testing, other fish were donated to locals as food. The largest specimen was a 50 kilogram sailfish.

While fishing is a niche market in the Maldives, one travel operator noted that angling was one of the UK’s most popular sports and a potential drawcard for the Maldives.

Champion angler Ahmed Zamir, from the Meeru Team which earned 400 points, said the event was challenging because the allocated fishing area was very small.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to show the integrity and honesty of a fisherman. I had to show the class of line that I used to catch my fish. The whole point was honesty,” he said.

The champion team will be invited to the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA)’s World Championship

IGFA representative at the event, Mario Tagliante, said the event inaugural event showed promise in the Maldives, but said “We were expecting more international response, and response from resorts. But we started our planning process quite late. Next time we’ll be more prepared – we have a year. We’ll get a much better response in 2012.”

MGFA Committee Member Tiffany Bond said the event had helped train people to follow international regulations.

“The challenge also brings more research, there’s still a lot we don’t know about Maldivian fish. Many participants, especially locals, were not familiar with the processes, such as tag and release, and after training for this challenge they are now more familiar with the procedures,” she said.

Chief Judge Bob Lowe said the judging process went well, although he noted that it was difficult to get everyone to use the same criteria.

“This is the first step, I think the event will grow and grow, eventually become one of the world’s major game fishing tournaments,” he predicted.

He explained that the tag-and-release method was valuable because it allowed monitoring of stocks and fish movements: “We’ve found that fish are moving all over, to Mexico and Hawaii and around the Atlantic, and sometimes further north.”

During the reception Minivan News spoke to Larry Zurloff, a Canadian currently living in the Maldives, who explained how he had designed and built a boat several years ago in conjunction with a local fisherman from Thaa Atoll, Mustafa Mohamed.

The pair incorporated a traditional fishing dhoni design with sport fishing facilities. When it is not being used by Larry, Mustafa uses the vessel to fish for his family. Zurloff spent seven days on the boat as part of a team, but mostly caught only smaller fish and scored zero.

“It was great to see friends, meet new people, and for everybody to get together in one spot,” he said.

He also noted that it was good to use the event to raise awareness of tag and release methods, especially for large bill fish: “There’s so little known about fish here, and big fish are decreasing in number each year. I think this could build awareness for tag and release. And it’s a great way to also make some money for the tourism industry.”

He speculated that increasing boat traffic was affecting fish populations nearer to human population centers, and driving up prices since fishermen needed to go further to find fish.

Mustafa didn’t have a clear response to the tag and release practice, and seemed unconvinced of the idea of fishing in order to release the fish. and said it was new.

Larry said suggested that the money in game fishing could divert fishermen from commercial exploitation of stock.

During the launch ceremony in September, MGFA Vice President Ahmed Nazeer said that game fishing had the potential to attract a new tourism demographic.

“The competitors and fishermen we see are not likely to be the average romantic vacationers or honeymooners, but serious competitive sportsmen,” he said.

Nazeer said the specific nature of the sport would attract long-anglers from the United States, a country which is not highly represented in tourist arrivals.

He further indicated that the tournament was in line with global trends. “The approach to game fishing is increasingly popular abroad. If we see significant improvement with sustainable sports fishing, we will take steps to develop a long-term commitment to the sport in the Maldives.

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India extends US$100 million standby credit facility to Maldives

India today extended a US$100 million standby credit facility to the Maldives in support of economic stability. India has agreed to assist developing the country’s banking and financial infrastructure and capacity building.

“Bilateral cooperation between India and Maldives has been on a high growth trajectory in recent times,” said India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “We are working together on increasing connectivity and closer economic cooperation. These efforts are bearing fruit.”

In a signing ceremony at the President’s Office this morning, the two governments signed five agreements including a Memorandum of Understanding for international terrorism, drug trafficking, disaster management and coastal security; a program of cooperation between 2012 and 2015; and India’s commitment to renovate Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

A Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development outlined a joint effort to support the growth of trade and investment, food security, fisheries development, tourism, transportation, information technology, renewable energy, communications and connectivity.

“These agreements have a number of advantages to both countries,” said President Mohamed Nasheed. “India’s contributions in these agreements goes a long way to the Maldives’ development.”

The heads of state announced their shared interest in opening passenger and cargo ferry services between Cochin and Male as soon as possible. The President said India would examining the project, and he hoped that it would support the development of North Kulhudhuffushi port.

Prime Minister Singh congratulated the Maldives on “an extremely successful SAARC Summit,” and expressed confidence in President Nasheed’s new role as SAARC chairman. “The pace of our activities will gather even greater momentum,” he said.

The President thanked the Prime Minister for his “moral and other support in holding and concluding the summit with such success.”

Following the ceremony, Prime Minister Singh delivered the first parliamentary address by a foreign head of state in the Maldives.

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Fantasy store investigation ongoing

Fantasy Store has re-opened after being closed for two days following the closure of its associated bakery, which was recently found to be using and selling expired products.

Bakers Fantasy was closed by Male’ City Council on October 28. The council subsequently inspected three storehouses and Aioli Restaurant, which is owned by Fantasy Pvt Ltd.

Fantasy shops are known for imported products and quality produce, and are popular among locals .

Speaking to local media Haveeru, councilor ‘Jambu’ Hassan Afeef said expired products were found in two of three storehouses, and that storehouses were not properly lit. All expired products were destroyed, he said.

Aioli’s inspection yielded no surprises, he added.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the police had been ordered by the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office to investigate the matter.

“Fantasy is still being investigated,” said Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam. “The police wanted to investigate the store to be 100 percent sure that nothing expired was being sold, and we have told the store that it can continue operations but cannot sell foods prepared on site.”

The bakery remains closed.

The operation has involved several public authorities. Police initially tried to get a court order to close down the bakery. However, Shiyam said a court order was not needed as the council could perform the closure directly.

Fantasy Store was closed by police after ignoring an order from Community Health Services, which has legal authority to order temporary closures.

“The police went to the administrative office with a search warrant, but the staff refused to open saying they didn’t have the authority,” said Shiyam. “Police called senior management, but they wouldn’t answer the calls. Police waited two hours before an official came to open the doors.

“At that point the police could have used force to open the doors, but they didn’t want to do that. We wanted a peaceful operation,” he said.

At the time, police removed expired goods including yogurts from Fantasy Store shelves. Shiyam said the police were sensitive to the business needs of the company and employees.

“We got all the necessary information for our investigation, and believe the store can operate under certain restrictions. We know that there is negative business impact if the store cannot operate, and don’t want to hurt the local economy,” he said.

Officials at the Prosecutor General’s Office and Health Ministry had not responded to inquiries at time of press.

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Indian Ocean ferry service and renewable energy investment among key SAARC agreements

The 17th SAARC Summit concluded today with the signing of the ‘Addu Declaration’, containing a number of key agreements affecting the region.

One of the most significant for the Maldives was a commitment to ensure that final preparations for an Indian Ocean passenger and cargo ferry service were completed by the end of December.

In a press conference following the closing ceremony, SAARC Chairman President Mohamed Nasheed pointed out that this development would allow someone to cheaply travel from Kulhudhuffushi in the country’s north to Colombo or Kochi in as much time as it would take them to reach Male’.

Other agreements included the strengthing of the SAARC Secretariat, the establishment of a South Asian Postal Union, and intensification of efforts to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade and reduce the sensitive list.

During the Summit, India had announced its intention to reduce its sensitive list for Least Development Countries (LDCs) from 480 tariff lines to 25, with zero customs duty for those items removed.

An unexpected commitment was an agreement in principle that SAARC countries would spend an “appropriate proportion” of their national income on renewable energy technologies.

The percentage would be determined by energy authorities and finance ministers in each country, but Nasheed said that if investment reached even one percent it would create the world’s largest market for renewable energy technology overnight.

No agreement was reached regarding the possibility of installing a human rights mechanism in SAARC, however Nasheed said the matter had come up as dear to several SAARC leaders, who had spent time in jail and faced torture over their politics.

“I don’t think they will stop talking about human rights,” he said.

The Heads of State also agreed further measures to combat maritime piracy in the region.

“When the next season of pirates drift into the Maldives, we must be able to deal with them,” he said.

“It is not a matter of stopping them, but what we do with them after we capture them,” he said, noting that the Maldives currently had 37 in custody.

“They have no ammunition on board by the time they reach the Maldives, and no passport or identification papers, so we can only treat such a person as a refugee adrift.”

Observer statements

During the closing ceremony observers from eight countries made statements in support of SAARC, reaffirming various commitments in the region.

The Australian representative observed that Australia was united with South Asia not just through sharing the Indian Ocean, but through a shared love and appreciation of cricket – 80 percent of the market for which was based in South Asia.

Australia pledged an additional AUD$20 million over two years, extending its support for infrastructure development to AUD$40 million over six years, and announced 297 scholarships to South Asian countries in 2012.

China meanwhile announced an additional donation of US$300,000 to the SAARC Development Fund.

The European Union welcomed steps taken at SAARC to move beyond trade to also cover political issues, such as counter terrorism.

The former “complexity” of SAARC had compelled the EU in one instance to decommit funds allocated for developing standards, the representative noted, but highlighted a €6.5 million commitment in civil aviation cooperation.

Iran noted its shared linguistic heritage with South Asian countries and raised the possibility of tourism cooperation.

Japan meanwhile thanked the Maldives for its contribution of 69,000 tins of tuna following the earthquake in March, and pledged broad support around the region. Particular emphasis, the representative said, included stability in Afghanistan, democracy in Pakistan, peace and security in Nepal, disaster preparedness in Bangladesh, and democracy consolidation in Bhutan and the Maldives.

The representative from the Republic of Korea noted that it was only in the last 50 years that Korea had transformed itself from a recipient of donor aid to an OECD country, and announced that the country intended to triple its overseas development commitment by 2015.

The representative from Myanmar/Burma announced his country’s desire to promote trade with SAARC countries, given its proximity.

The country was in the process of transitioning from a military government to a democracy, he claimed, appealing for the “understanding and support of the international community.”

The United States representative reiterated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ambition to help establish “a new silk road” in South Asia, which would in turn address insecurity and extremism plaguing the region.

The US was very encouraged by the bilateral talks and trade agreements negotiated between India and Pakistan during the SAARC Summit.

At the same time, the US urged the need for greater transparency and accountability of government “in the pursuit of better government.”

Parallel ‘People’s SAARC’

The parallel ‘People’s SAARC’, a collective of South Asian civil society organisations, meanwhile observed that the Summit was taking place “at a time when South Asian states are beginning to look inwards to realize the region’s immense political, economic, and diplomatic potential.”

“While the agenda of economic and social development might have moved up as a priority item for the SAARC countries, South Asian states continue to veer towards their aspirations for superior military might, prompting them to divert resources from developmental goals.”

The parallel SAARC urged leaders to close the income gap by dropping “wasteful” expenditure of further militarisation, institute a regional human rights mechanism protecting the rights of migrant workers, and create and independent climate commission.

“We would also like to see the establishment of a regional monitoring body with a mandate to assess the compliance of the member states in installing, safeguarding and institutionalising democratic governance.”

“SAARC should encourage member states to adopt competent and credible constitutional, legal and administrative framework to end all forms of discrimination, displacement, deprivation and the deeply rooted culture of impunity to secure a better future for the billions on inhabitants of the region,” the statement read.

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Comment: Burning bridges – SAARC Summit exposes depths of Maldivian intolerance

Democracy strips a people naked by giving them the freedom to be who they really are. Recent events reveal that the Maldivian so exposed is not a pretty sight: she is bigoted, xenophobic, and ignorant.

First came the gutter press hullabaloo about an illustration of Jesus on a banner welcoming leaders of the SAARC region which, as it happens, is home to the largest collection of deities known to man.

Pardon me if I am bordering on the verge of apostasy here, but is Jesus not Easa? You may know him from such books as the Qur’an.

Perhaps the good people of the Sun magazine, which ‘broke’ the ‘news’, are not too familiar with the book. Be that as it may, truth is, Sun writers had not been this excited about alleged ‘anti-Islamic activity’ since they went under covers in a brothel.

When the public failed to foam at the mouth (not about the brothel, about Jesus), other plans had to be hatched to ratchet up hatred. Along came MP Ahmed Mahloof, our saviour from the unlikely Second Coming of Jesus as a line-drawing flapping about in the warm breeze of a tropical island.

The ex-footballer as a public figure is an interesting (side)step in the evolution of man. To begin with, he possesses a brain that accepts kicking a ball into a net for money is a life well lived. The capacity of such brains to adjust to other styles of living is minimal, though not non-existent.

It has been proven, for instance, that they can successfully switch from playing ball to building a career of provocatively displaying one’s own balls for couturiers of men’s underwear. But a career in politics? Mahloof is proof that electing ex-footballers to political posts is an own goal of epic proportions.

As if the MP and his idiocy were not enough to make us the laughing stock of South Asia, we then set about destroying a monument installed by Pakistan because it contains idolatrous images.

Maldivians destroying a Pakistani creation for alleged anti-Islamic imagery. Now, tell us – does that not make it clear once and for all who is the more Islamic of the two states: the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with its 97 percent Muslim population, or Always Natural Maldives, the tourist destination extraordinaire with a hundred-percent-minus-one-Muslim population? Surely we have won this religious pissing contest that Pakistan probably did not even know they were engaged in.

At least we cannot be accused of bias in our India-Pakistan foreign policy. Last month we deported an Indian for having on his laptop a religious hymn. This week we destroyed a religious display from Pakistan.

In fact, we are very even-handed in our policies and attitudes towards all our neighbours. Just ask any of our hundred thousand Bangladeshi Muslim brethren: we treat them all with equal inhumanity and cruelty.

And surely Sri Lanka would attest to just how seriously we take the commandment to love thy neighbour: for didn’t we, while on the UN Human Rights Committee, describe the UN’s condemnation of Rajapaksa’s war policy as ‘singularly counter-productive’?

Somewhere in this unpalatable exposé of the 21st century Maldivian is a lesson, not just for Maldivians but also for democracy itself. And it is not just that ex-footballers should not be elected to public office but also that, given the freedom, a majority of people are just as likely to choose intolerance as they are to choose tolerance.

That is the tragedy of three years of democracy in the Maldives: we have chosen to use its liberties to exercise our freedom not to be free.

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]

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Scheduled flights commence to Fuvahmulah airport

Scheduled flights commenced to the newly-built Fuvahmulah airport today after the airport operating license was granted.

According to state broadcaster MNBC One, scheduled flights from Island Aviation will travel to the atoll island four days a week. A return ticket from Male’ to Fuvahmulah costs Rf3,194 with the fuel surcharge.

An Island Aviation test flight landed in the 1,200-meter runway on October 31.

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MJA condemns arrest of journalists in airport

The Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) has strongly condemned the arrest of journalists that covered Wednesday night’s attempt by opposition parties to take down banners depicting Christian imagery at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

In a press statement, MJA said the arrested reporters were carrying press passes but had their cameras and phones taken from them before being taken to the police detention island of Dhoonidhoo.

The press NGO said it considered the “unacceptable” arrest an attempt by police to “obstruct the work of journalists and intimidate them,” calling on the authorities to provide protection for reporters covering such incidents.

The statement however noted that the journalists were released shortly after being taken into custody after the association intervened and spoke to police.

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President and First Lady host state banquet for SAARC leaders

President Mohamed Nasheed and First Lady Laila Ali hosted a state banquet last night for visiting Heads of State and Government for the SAARC summit in the island of Hulhumeedhoo in Addu City.

The President meanwhile unveiled the Afghanistan SAARC monument before the ceremonial dinner.

The SAARC summit concluded today with a closing session at the Equatorial Convention Centre (ECC) in Hithadhoo.

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