Protesters who toppled and then set fire to the controversial Pakistani SAARC monument in Hithadhoo, Addu City, are “national heroes”, the Progressive Party of Maldives has said, vowing to “do everything we can” to defend those arrested for attacking the allegedly “idolatrous” monument.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim ‘Wadde’, lawyer of PPM figurehead and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said the party would provide legal assistance for the two men arrested for toppling the monument last week.
After a group of people set the monument on fire Monday night, the top half of the monument, containing a bust of Pakistan’s founder Mohamed Ali Jinah with an Islamic crescent moon symbol, was stolen last night, police have confirmed.
Waheed meanwhile contended at yesterday’s press conference that the monument was “illegal” and erected in violation of the constitution.
“No one should give any room to consider any kind of act against Islam lawful,” he said. “Even if it’s the People’s Majlis or any other state institution, no law that conflicts the religion of Islam can be made in the Maldives.”
The arrest of those who toppled and vandalized the monument was therefore “questionable,” Waheed continued, insisting that the arrests were “unlawful” as they were opposing “something the government did in violation of the constitution.”
Speaking at the press conference, MP Dr Afrashim Ali argued that damaging a monument erected in violation of the constitution and law could not be an illegal act.
Afrashim also contended that the ostensibly pagan symbols on the monument amounted to denial of the oneness of God, the central belief of monotheism.
“The most clear and important sign of a people’s shirk [denial of God] is erecting idols,” he explained, adding that displaying “idols” in the Maldives was “most definitely haram [forbidden].”
Afrashim claimed that the monument was “proof that President [Mohamed] Nasheed encourages the spread of other religions [in the Maldives].”
“We have always been saying he has been trying to introduce other religions in the country,” he said. “He has tried to freely sell alcohol in the country. He has also appealed to MPs to not include Islamic punishments in the law.
Meanwhile the religious conservative Adhaalath Party sent a letter to the Prosecutor General yesterday requesting the office to look into the matter and prosecute those responsible for erecting the monument.
The party claimed that the monument was erected by the government under a “plan to defile the beloved citizens of Addu and the beloved citizens of Pakistan.”
In a press statement on Sunday, Adhaalath Party called on the authorities to “immediately release” those arrested for toppling the monument.
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