The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) marked ‘Victory Day’ with a special ceremony, a parade, the unveiling of a new monument and a silent drill on Friday (November 2).
The special ceremony commemorated the events of November 3, 1988 – when an attempted coup by Sri Lankan mercenaries led by a group of Maldivians was foiled with Indian military assistance .
As part of the event, a memorial monument at the southwestern side of Bandaara Koshi, the main military headquarters, was unveiled by President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.
The southwestern corner of the military headquarters was blown up during the attack in the early hours of November 3, 1988.
The ceremony meanwhile included the screening of an animated video showing the attack on the military headquarters, a seven-gun salute, 30 seconds of silence in memorial of the fallen, a performance by the military’s ‘Pipe’ band and the launching of a book about the 1988 coup.
Military officers performed a silent drill after the ceremony.
In his address at the ceremony, Chief of Defence Forces Major General Ahmed Shiyam said that although the Maldives might not come under military attack in modern times, the “effects of ideological attacks to poison the minds of our youth and destroy our nationhood are evident all around us.”
A parade meanwhile took place across the capital this morning following dawn prayers in a large congregation of military officers.
MNDF Captain Hussain Ali told newspaper Haveeru on Thursday that an event at the Republic Square including fireworks that had originally been planned for tonight was now postponed until after November 12 due to adverse weather.
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If adverse weather is the only reason for postponing the event, then we need to educate our MNDF officals urgently. Isn't the suffering of our farmers and the people on affected islands enough not to carry on with such celebrations? As this is the next worst disaster the country has experienced since the 2004 Tsunami, shouldn't the government's focus be on helping those victims?