Tag: maldives

Indian high commission welcomes renegotiation of TATA housing deal

The Indian High Commission has welcomed the successful renegotiation of the TATA Housing development project in Malé.

“The positive developments in the TATA Housing project would definitely encourage more such investments from Indian businesses into Maldives,” read a press release from the Indian High Commission today.

Work on residential apartments will now resume on the Gaakoshi and Arabiyya sites, after a two year delay as the government sought to renegotiate the original terms of the contract.

“Government of Maldives has also given a commitment to transfer back the two sites – Naadhee  and Odean, which were taken back by Government for specific purposes, and provide other timely clearances to the company,” the statement continued

The initial agreement was signed in May 2010 between the government of Mohamed Nasheed and Apex Realty Pvt Ltd – a joint venture between TATA Housing Development and SG 18 Realty.

Work commenced on the premises, but was later halted due to pending resolution of numerous contractual issues.

“Despite a two-year delay, due to certain external and unavoidable circumstances resulting in hugely enhanced cost implications, M/s Apex Realty, where Tata Housing is a majority shareholder, is committed to deliver the residential apartments to the people and government of Maldives.”

The addendum agreement was signed today between TATA Housing Managing Director and CEO Mr Brotin Banerjee and the Maldives Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.

Shortly after the project stalled in 2012, officials from Apex Realty reportedly told Indian media of fears that local politics were derailing their investments in the Maldives.

“The agreement has firm assurances from both Government of Maldives and TATA Housing,” read today’s high commission statement.

Relations between the Maldives and India cooled following the premature termination of the GMR airport development deal – also signed under the Nasheed government – in late 2012.

After being reviewed in a Singapore court of arbitration, the GMR deal was recently ruled to have been legal and binding, leaving the Government of Maldives liable for damages incurred by the Indian company.

Since assuming the presidency in November 2013, President Abdulla Yameen has sought to improve investor relations, expressing his hope that Indian companies continue to invest in the Maldives.

The current government’s controversial flagship legislation – the recently passed Special Economic Zones Act – is intended to attract further foreign investment.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for Maldives involvement in 21st century maritime silk road

President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jingping has called on the Maldives “to get actively involved” in the creation of a 21st century maritime silk road linking China to the east coast of Africa and the Mediterranean.

In an op-ed published in Sun Online ahead of an official state visit, Xi said Maldives’ strategic location in the Indian Ocean had made it an important stop in the ancient maritime Silk Road.

“China welcomes Maldives to get actively involved in building the 21st century maritime Silk Road by leveraging its own strength. China looks forward to working with Maldives to speedily translate this cooperation initiative into reality so as to boost the development and prosperity of all countries and the rise of Asia.”

According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, the Maritime Silk Road and a separate overland Silk Road will bring “new opportunities and a new future to China and every country along the road that is seeking to develop.”

China envisions a trade network where “goods are more abundant and trade is more high-end,” said Xinhua.

Xi is scheduled to arrive in the Maldives at 5:30pm today along with a 200 strong delegation that includes representatives from major Chinese companies.

The visit marks the first ever trip to the country by a Chinese head of state, and is part of an Asia tour that began with a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tajikistan. After his two-day visit to the Maldives, Xi will also visit Sri Lanka and India.

New Heights

In his op-ed, Xi said China and the Maldives should strengthen political trust, intensify practical cooperation, boost cultural and people to people exchanges and enhance coordination on multilateral issues.

He noted two-way trade between the two countries, particularly in tourism, has been growing in recent years. Chinese holiday-makers now make up nearly one third of all visitors to the Maldives.

“China has been the largest source of tourists for Maldives for four years running. To the Chinese, especially the young people, Maldives is an ideal holiday destination and a romantic retreat.”

He encouraged more Maldivians to visit China for sightseeing and studying, and said the two governments should facilitate travel exchanges and more air routes.

“With these efforts, we will feel close even when we are thousands of miles away from each other.”

Appreciating the Maldivian government’s commitment to the one China policy, Xi said China “will, as always, respect the choice of the political system and development path made by the Maldivian people in light of your national conditions.”

China will pursue close cooperation with the Maldives on climate change and human rights, Xi said.

“The ship of China-Maldives friendship has set sail. I am confident that with our joint efforts, it will brave winds and waves and forge ahead toward an even brighter future.”

According to the Maldives President’s Office, China and the Maldives will sign a number of bilateral agreements on advancing developmental cooperation in various fields, and Xi and President Abdulla Yameen will launch two development projects funded by the Chinese government and implemented by Chinese corporations.

Minivan News understands the two projects include a bridge connecting the capital Malé and suburb Hulhumalé and the development of a new runway at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

China’s rising economic presence in the Indian Ocean region has stoked concerns in New Delhi that China is creating a “string of pearls” that surrounds India and threatens its security, including Chinese investments in ports and other key projects in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

When asked if closer ties with China would adversely impact relations with India or Japan, President Yameen last week said Sino-Maldives economic cooperation would not affect “the very friendly, close relations with India”.

“All these projects are also open to India and we are doing a lot of diplomatic work with India,” he said, referring to his administration’s decision not to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States as an example of cooperation.

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Worry over Xi’s trip to Maldives: The Telegraph (Calcutta)

“Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the Maldives tomorrow has set off alarm bells in India’s foreign policy establishment amid worries that the atoll nation may, after a brief hiatus, again be swinging strategically away from New Delhi and closer to Beijing,” writes Charu Sudan Kasturi for the Telegraph.

Xi will be the first Chinese President to travel to the country, when he lands in Male on Sunday with First Lady Peng Liyuan and over 100 businessmen. Xi and his wife, one of China’s best-known singers from the 1980s,will then visit Sri Lanka on Monday before flying to India on Wednesday for a three-day trip.

The Chinese President’s visit to the Maldives comes less than a month after its President, Abdulla Yameen, travelled to Beijing and returned with promises of free financial aid and investments in key infrastructure projects.

Yameen, after his election in November last year, had said strengthening ties with India would be his priority following a bruising two years in bilateral relations, and had sent initial signals that comforted New Delhi.

But away from the public eye, relations between India and the Maldives have once again become testy over the past few months over diplomatic and strategic decisions taken by Yameen that hint at a subtle but growing proximity to China, senior officials have said.

‘We’ve been off the ball a bit on the Maldives, and things are tricky again,’ an official said. ‘The Chinese President’s visit to the Maldives is emblematic of that simmering unease.’ ”

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MDP warns of a census boycott if authorities fail to find missing journalist

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said it will consider a boycott of the overdue national census if authorities fail to find missing Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla.

Newly elected Vice President Mohamed Shifaz said the motion would require endorsement by the party’s National Council.

Rilwan – believed to have been abducted – has now been missing for 34 days. The Maldives Police Services has been criticised for its failure to reveal information regarding the investigation.

“President Abdulla Yameen’s government has been negligent towards a Maldivian citizen. We will stand up against that negligence. So we [will ask the National Council] to endorse a boycott of a census held without Rilwan,” Shifaz told the press at a briefing this morning.

“I do want to note the importance of a census. But when we do not know what happens to Maldivians, when citizens have been disappeared, I do not believe we should proceed with a census.”

The census – scheduled to take place between September 20 and 27 – will be the first time such national data has been collected since 2006.

Locals from the island of Vilufushi in Thaa Atoll have also announced that they will be boycotting the census, due to the failure to provide permanent residents for those left homeless after the 2004 tsunami.

Department of National Planning’s Assistant Director Fathimath Riyaza has appealed to all parties to support the census, and called on the public to refrain from connecting the census to Rilwan’s disappearance.

“We, too, are extremely concerned and saddened by the journalist’s disappearance. However, it is not our job to look for and find any particular person. I call on the people to refrain from connecting these two things and to give us information about themselves.”

Accountability

MDP chairperson Ali Waheed said party members had suggested the boycott and said some felt Rilwan’s disappearance was an act of terrorism by the state.

The MDP has remained quiet on the matter following a request by Rilwan’s family not to politicise the issue, but “MDP cannot remain quiet, he is a citizen just like us,” Waheed said.

Criticising President Yameen’s silence on the disappearance, Waheed said the Maldives had “gone off the tracks” since the new government assumed power.

“People are afraid. People are disappearing, and the government does not care. The truth is the government is failing. It’s been a month since a journalist has gone missing, and it does not seem to be a big deal to the government. The truth is we have regressed 30 years,” he said.

Since Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) holds a majority in the parliament, the president cannot throw off responsibility for the state of the nation, he added.

The government’s actions intimidate the press, he said and criticised the government for its failure to provide security for MPs who have also received death threats.

The MDP will embark on a series of actions to hold the government accountable, starting with a rally at the Alimas Carnival in Malé on Thursday, activating internal party committees on government accountability and preparations for upcoming local council by-elections.

The party has also set up a desk to improve relationship between the MDP leadership and councilors, he said.

Disappearance

Arguing there is room to believe Rilwan has been disappeared, Waheed also appealed to the government to clarify the nature of Rilwan’s disappearance.

“The government’s actions are unlike any other in a case of disappearance. Comments made by senior government officials in press conferences suggest he has been abducted. Instead of commenting directly on the matter, every one is suggested he will be found alive,” he said.

Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim last week said he had hope Rilwan would be found safe and sound.

The PPM dominated parliamentary committee on independent institutions oversight in August rejected a motion to summon and question the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and Police Integrity Commission (PIC) on Rilwan’s disappearance.

MDP MP Rozaina Adam said the party would table the same request once again.

Rilwan’s family has previously submitted a petition to the Majlis with 5000 signatures calling on MPs to find answers to questions as yet unanswered by police. Local NGO Maldives Democracy Network has also released an open letter raising a number of issues regarding the cases’s progress.

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President Yameen to personally oversee health sector

With additional reporting by Daniel Bosley

President Abdulla Yameen has announced that he will personally oversee the Maldives’ health sector until it overcomes its current problems.

“When things don’t get done, it is the president elected by the people who has to bear responsibility. But the democratic way is to delegate the work and let others do it. And doing things through institutions and offices,” local media quoted Yameen as saying in Addu City yesterday (August 11).

“If everything has to be done by the president, then we can just pay the president a large salary, send everyone else home and the work will be done. But we have offices and departments because we don’t want to do that.”

Speaking at a Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) rally, Yameen alleged that, despite a lot of developments having been brought to the health sector during Gayoom’s administration, no investments have been made during President Mohamed Nasheed’s time in office.

The Ministry of Health has been headed by Defence Minister Colonel (retired) Ahmed Nazim after former minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela’s renomination was rejected by the Majlis last month, and had fallen under the oversight of Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed.

In an interview with Haveeru earlier this week, Dr Shakeela alleged that she had received threats and intimidation prior to her departure, suggesting that political opponents wished to remove her in order to benefit from corrupt development deals.

“When things fail, all the complaints are targeted to the president and in the end it is whoever is elected to the post of president that needs to carry the responsibility for everything,” President Yameen told local media.

“Therefore, I have decided that although the sector was not overseen by me previously, I am going to run the health sector directly under my oversight until it overcomes its current hurdles,” he continued.

Corruption claims

Dr Shakeela – whose time in office was marked by a number of high profile mishaps within the sector – told Haveeru that she had not been provided adequate powers to carry out the changes required.

“When I was given the post, some people said this can’t be done by bringing in someone from far outside after we worked hard to bring this government,” she was quoted as saying.

“So from the start there were some people who were bent on showing that I was a failure.”

The state-owned Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) – long criticised for lack of qualified doctors and inadequate medical facilities – transfused HIV positive blood to a patient in February due to an alleged technical error.

In June, Fuvahmulah councillors called for Shakeela’s resignation after a case of stillbirth, an interrupted caesarean, and the death of a soldier on the island. A few weeks after, over 300 protestors demonstrated in Haa Dhaal Kulhudhuffushi over deteriorating conditions at the regional hospital.

Responding to Shakeela’s interview this week, PPM parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News that acting minister Nazim was carrying out “tremendous” work in the sector – work he is confident Dr Shakeela could not have done.

Nihan argued that the removal of Dr Shakeela was an example of good democratic practice after PPM members became dissatisfied with her performance.

On Monday (September 11) the ministry was reported to have signed an agreement with Sunshell Maldives Pvt Ltd for the MVR1.2 million (US$77,821) renovation of Hithadhoo regional hospital.

Yameen yesterday also praised acting health minister Nazim’s performance, saying he was “working very actively and conducting some very important work”.

He said that Nazim regularly deliberates with him on health sector issues, implementing his suggestions.

“I am therefore confident that with the current minister, I will be able to bring about the changes I desire in even the atoll level hospitals,” said Yameen.

The president is visiting Feydhoo and Hithadhoo islands in the southern atoll to examine ways in which the government’s development agenda can be implemented.

In addition to inaugurate a road construction project in Feydhoo, Yameen announced a land reclamation project to be started on the same island next year, as well as a atoll-wide sewerage project to begin this year.

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The Islamic State has supporters in paradise: Washington Post

“When the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta gazed upon the Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago of more than a thousand coral atolls and turquoise-blue lagoons, he thought it ‘one of the wonders of the world.’ ” writes Ishaan Tharoor for the Washington Post.

“He didn’t need much persuading to halt his voyage, and assumed the role of ‘qadi‘ — or chief religious judge — for the entire archipelago, deliberating on matters of state while enjoying the delights of the islands’ beaches and, as local lore goes, its women.

Ever since then, travelers and honeymooners have flocked to the Maldives for their own bit of paradise. The country’s myriad scattered luxury resorts now bring in hundreds of thousands of tourists every year — in 2012, the Maldives counted over a million visitors, nearly three times the country’s existing population.

But there’s trouble in paradise, also. This past weekend, some 300 people in the capital city Male — a tiny, crowded concrete island in the sea — marched down its main thoroughfare waving the black flags of the Islamic State. They chanted slogans against democracy and held banners that read “Shariah is the only solution,” among others. They ended their protest with a prayer offering support to mujahideen waging jihad around the world.”

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Comment: The Maldives Police Service – politicised or incompetent?

On September 1, 2014 the Maldives Police Service (MPS) marked a decade of existence as a civil institution that is separate from the military.

From its very inception, the MPS have been promoting contemporary policing philosophies and concepts to describe the kind of policing it would practice. Terms such as community policing, evidence based investigation, forensics and DNA are used to describe its policing strategy and promote the MPS as a modern, professional and service oriented organization.

To achieve its goals the MPS receives significant foreign aid and assistance from a number of countries.  Its officers are trained from highly prestigious police academies, training institutions and universities. Also, the Maldives government invests heavily in MPS.  It is estimated that there are more than 3000 police officers within the MPS to police the population of Maldives which is under 400,000.

But for all the strategic intentions and resources, neatly bound strategic plans and the trainings from across the world, the MPS is failing at its core missions—preventing crime, improving safety and gaining legitimacy.

Crime

Over the past 10 years crime in the Maldives has increased substantially. Official statistics show that reported incidents have more than doubled during the last 10 years from 9,140 crimes in 2004 to 18,984 crimes in 2013.

Violent crimes, financial fraud, drug offences, sexual offences and terrorism, to name some, have increased substantially. Of course, the increase in crime cannot be directly attributed to MPS— there are complex social, economic, political and legal factors at play here.The increase in crime may also reflect administrative changes in defining, collecting and counting crimes. Because no research has been undertaken to capture the ‘dark figure of crime’ which go unreported or unrecorded, such as a general victimisation survey, it is fair to claim that the actual crime rate of the Maldives is likely to be much higher than what is officially recorded and published by the MPS.

Irrespective of what the numbers reveal, there can be little disagreement that crime in the Maldives and its impact to the people of the Maldives has taken an incredibly negative trend in the past ten years.

With the increase in crime, people’s sense of safety has also decreased throughout the Maldives. Fear of crime and the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime in the Maldives are huge. While the MPS are partial culprits to the ever increasing crime problem, they have an important role to play in reducing the fear of crime. To reduce the fear of crime the police need to be proactive, however.

And therein is the MPS’s biggest failure—it continues to operate like a fire brigade reactionary force that reacts to crime rather than proactively prevent crime.

Preventing Crime

Prevention is a key task of contemporary policing and there are many things the MPS could do to prevent crime.  It seems the MPS speaks of crime prevention very much but little is actually done towards this end.

The MPS engages in piecemeal advertisements through the police website and social media, however, and conducts some information sessions to public and school children under the rhetoric of crime prevention. For instance, the MPS has been conducting information to young school children and parents with slogans such as ‘together we can reduce crime’, but fails to properly assess and engage the at-risk youth or parents who usually don’t attend these ‘feel good’ public campaigns.

Moreover, there are no clear targets or evidence based content to these information sessions. In other words, the MPS primarily conducts situational crime prevention activities which promote target hardening, even that without a clear strategy or outcome analysis.

There are many other ways such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), co-production of safety and security through community policing and social and restorative justice approaches that could be further used by the MPS to enhance its crime prevention activities.

The Crime Prevention Committees that have been formed in the islands, the community policing version of MPS, lack regulatory procedures to operate and thus depend on individual stations to make it work.  Recently it started activities that are highly militaristic in terminology and in ritual called ‘Blues for Youth’ and ‘Be Ready Camps’ that has no clear objectives, goals and measurable outcomes.

There are many factors that indicate crime prevention is not a highly valued function within the MPS. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, in their evaluation of the implementation of MPS strategic plan 2007-2011 found that 84% of police officers they surveyed highlighted police officers do not receive sufficient training or resources for crime prevention. The survey further found that there was a perception within communities they surveyed that the police were failing hugely on prevention of crime.

The frequent restructuring and repositioning of crime prevention function from department to department is also indicative of the lack of importance placed on this core function by the MPS (a 2010 organisational structure available from the internet has crime prevention as a separate department but the latest media report on crime prevention on MPS website cites crime prevention as a unit of the Public Affairs Department). Indeed, the MPS often conflate crime prevention with media and public relations.

Legitimacy of the MPS

The police are defined by the authority to use force—including deadly force—against its citizens. And police officers have huge discretion in using this force. While the law governs how the police should use their power it is often left to individual officers’ discretion to apply the force. Thus, it is imperative that the police are not only held responsible for their actions but also accountable.

Since its very inception the MPS have been criticised for its use of force.

Because the establishment of the MPS coincided with the period of political transition in the Maldives, it has been continuously pulled into political discourses and events. As political demonstrations intensified during the early years of MPS’s inception it failed to practice a Public Order Policing strategy that would be in line with democratic principles.

Between 2004 and 2008 the MPS received huge criticisms and accusations of actively sabotaging pro-democracy rallies and dispersing opposition led public demonstrations fiercely and violently. While the police by its very nature is susceptible to politics and politicians, the police in a democracy should always refrain from being politicised. The police should never overreact to political events or political rhetoric. Nor should the police incite politicians to overreact.

The 2004 to 2008 period could easily be described as the ‘political era’ of the MPS.

From 2008-2012

The politicised nature of the MPS in these early years continues to haunt the organisation. Furthermore, it is questionable whether or not MPS has been able to leave that behind despite a new Constitution and a new Police Act which mandates the MPS to uphold the law and democratic principles rather than the government.

With a new government elected in November 2008, there were huge expectations that the ‘political era’ of the MPS would end and that policing in the Maldives would begin a new democratic era. Because MPS is a relatively young organisation with a young workforce, however, the new government’s capacity to bring the level of changes it wished for the MPS was perhaps limited.

Because the newly enacted Police Act (2008), which was passed before the Constitution, gives the president the power to appoint the commissioner of police and deputy commissioners of police, there were some changes at the very top of the leadership at the MPS in 2008. However, the new government also failed to initiate or guide a police reform agenda beyond the cosmetic change in leadership positions. And the MPS lacked the capacity and the willingness to reform within.

The extent of politics within the MPS is evident from comments made by senior police officers that they refused to ‘salute’ the newly democratically elected president [Mohamed Nasheed]. While the exact truth behind these sentiments is not clear, it is evident that senior police officers harboured huge resentment against the newly elected government and the new president.

Some, including Abdulla Fairoosh who temporarily took control of the MPS on February 7 2012 as the acting commissioner (despite no reference to such a post in the 2008 Police Act) and Abdulla Riyaz, the commissioner of police appointed on February 8 2013, took study leave soon after the new government had been elected in 2008.

Beyond 2012

As the events leading up to and of the February 7 and 8 2012 would reveal, far from being a new and apolitical organisation, the MPS remained unchanged.The controversial role the MPS played in the transfer of government on in 2012 is well documented.

The new government’s own Commission of National Inquiry (CONI) found that the police acted beyond its power and authority in the violent dispersion of demonstrators on February 8, 2012. Since then criticisms against the MPS has been that it was too political and if it could be saved from the political interferences, the service could effectively police society.

The recent suspected abduction of journalist and human rights activists Ahmed Rilwan (known in the social media as Moyameeha) has, however, spiralled into a more deserving criticism against the MPS—that service is not only too political, it is incompetent too.

The failure of MPS to provide any substantial information about Rilwan has more and more people questioning the capacity police to provide safety and security to the people of the Maldives. The MPS often blames politicians for interfering with their work, the legislator for not passing necessary laws, the judiciary for not keeping pace with the ‘scientific investigative methods of MPS’ and the corrections system for being a hole in the criminal justice system.

What the MPS fails to understand, however, is that it is the failures of the MPS that has most significantly inhibited effective justice and democracy in the Maldives.

Unless the MPS pay more attention to its core missions—reducing crime, improving safety and gaining legitimacy—there can be little improvement and satisfaction for the citizens of the Maldives. And if the past is of any experience, the MPS lack capacity and willingness to reform within. If any change needs to be brought to the MPS there needs to be a holistic police reform agenda that not only changes the police but policing too.

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IFJ and MJA again urge government to expedite Rilwan case

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Maldives Journalists’ Association (MJA) released a further press statement expressing concerns over “the slow progress made in the search of journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla”.

“Today marks one month since Rilwan was last seen yet the IFJ remains critical of the investigation and the release of information by the authorities,” the statement dated September 8 reads.

“The huge public response to Rilwan’s disappearance shows the strong desire for justice and answers, not only by his journalistic colleagues but the public at large,” the statement quotes IFJ acting director Jane Worthington as saying.

Rilwan was last spotted on CCTV footage at the Hulhumalé Ferry Terminal. Eye witnesses report seeing a man fitting Rilwan’s description being forced into a vehicle at knife point in front of his residence at approximately the time Rilwan would have reached his residence.

The IFJ states that evidence found by Minivan News – later corroborated by other media outlets – suggests Rilwan was abducted, while the authorities have so far not provided any information which links the reported abduction in Hulhumalé to Rilwan’s disappearance.

“One month on, the demand for answers remains strong and if the figures the police provide are correct, there is vital information that is not being shared with the media that might find the culprits behind his disappearance,” said the statement.

The IFJ previously released a statement last month calling upon authorities to undertake a full investigation with the “utmost seriousness, with all findings released to the public.”

“The disappearance of journalists is a serious matter and full support must be provided to the family,” read the August statement.

Rilwan’s family have resorted to lobbying the People’s Majlis in order to gain information about the investigation, noting last week that police updates on the investigation did not included evidence on progress.

The most recent police statement noted that they had questioned 318 individuals, interrogated 111, searched 139 locations in Hulhumalé and conducted dives to search 267,197.5 square meters of ocean.

“These are just statistics,” responded Rilwan’s brother, Moosa at the time. “We want to find him. We want the police to tell us if they have any leads, if there is progress”.

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives and the Maldives Democracy Network have also suggested the police should be conducting investigations more transparently. The UK government has this week expressed concern over the disappearance.

Speaking to Minivan News today, police media officials said  that there were no further developments in the investigation that could be shared with media or the public.

Meanwhile, Rilwan’s family and friends continue in their efforts to find him and spread awareness about the disappearance.

In a social media campaign dubbed ‘Find Moyameehaa‘ – referring to the pseudonym adopted by Rilwan on social media – friends and family have so far conducted various activities in the streets of Malé.

Efforts included the gathering of 5000 signatures on the Majlis petition in just over one week, and a gathering for families victims of violent crimes.

“Friends and family will once again be meeting the public on Friday afternoon from 4 to 6pm at the Artificial Beach,” Rilwan’s long time friend Yameen Rasheed explained.

According to Yameen, Friday’s event will be focused on addressing questions surrounding Rilwan’s suspected abduction, spreading information about Rilwan and the loss society will face in losing young minds like him, sharing various literary works he has produced, and conducting a special prayer in hope of his quick and safe return.

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Police called to investigate bullying in Imadudheen School

Police have confirmed that they are currently investigating a case involving multiple instances in which an 8-year-old student at Imadudheen School has been bullied.

While the police declined from providing further information on an ongoing investigation, local media reports that the case involves the student being bullied multiple times, and the school management repeatedly failing to take sufficient action in the matter.

“We have been raising these concerns with the school management from the moment we became aware of it. We have submitted the complaint to the class teacher, the leading teacher, and even the school principal,” local media quotes the victim’s parent as saying.

“However, the problem has still not been resolved. We filed a complaint with the police finally when the class teacher threatened our daughter saying she will be expelled from school if she pursues this matter any further.”

Ministry of Education Media Official Maina Latheef stated that the matter has not been submitted to the ministry as an official complaint, although she explained to Minivan News that she was looking into the issue.

“We will be able to tell you more in detail about what actions we can and will take once we finish looking into the matter. However, we maintain that the act of bullying is unacceptable and no child must have to be subject to it,” she said.

Imadudheen School’s administrative office was not responding to calls at the time of press.

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