New Delhi, December 22 “Maldives is proud of its friendly and close links with India. Hindi and Urdu are spoken there along with its official language Dhivehi.” Expressing the above views here on December 22, 2009 at a reception held in their honour at the headquarters of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind here, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, Maldives Minister of State for Home Affairs and Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, a leader of Adhaalath Party, a part of the current four-party ruling coalition that ousted Mamoun Abdul Qayyum from power after 30 years in the 2008 presidential elections, said the Maldivians got not only salt but many things from India.

Prominent among those present in the reception at Mufti Kefayatullah Hall of Jamiat were Jamiat Nazim Maulana Abdul Moid Qasmi, Secretary Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, Neyaz Farooqui, Hakim Anisu Rahman, Advocate Shakeel Ahmed, Mufti Zafruddin, and Alimuddin Asadi. 

Sheikh Rasheed Hussain Ahmed, founder-President of Adhaalath Party (Justice Party), was currently in India along with Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, his close associate and Vice President of Majlise Ulema of his party. Sheikh Rasheed Hussain Ahmed said: “We have a very good rapport with Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind and other organizations.” He further said that they got in India everything that was available in their own country, and they didn’t have had a feeling of strangers here.

It is to point out that both Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed and Sheikh Ilyas Hussain has spent their early life in India while taking education. Both became “Huffaz-e-Quran” and a’lim in this country and got higher education in Saudi Arabia. Both are members of the Fiqah Academy, Maldives.

According to Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, Adhaalath Party chief Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed is a famous Islamic scholar in the Maldives. He has been active in the politics after his party was registered as an Opposition party in August 2005 following introduction of a multi-party system there, he added.

Adhaalat Party played a pivotal role in bringing religious freedom back to the Maldives. Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, who has visited almost all the 200 inhabitable islands of his country and made their survey, said: “Adhaalath Party had decided to join the current ruling coalition on the condition of ending restrictions upon performing religious duties and activities and releasing ulema and other persons detained on this ground. Its citizens were not free to do so under the 30-year rule of Mamoun Abdul Gayyoom’s Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party. Several Ulema and dawah workers had been put behind the bars. Adhaalath Party founder-chief and well known Islamic scholar Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, who is now state minister for Home Affairs and accompanying him, was imprisoned himself seven times. Alhamdulillah, all such detainees have been set free and the citizens of the country are fully enjoying religious freedom under the new coalition government. Due to this a religious awareness has come back among the general people. The credit for creating this awareness goes to Adhaalath Party which through its dawah lectures did it possible.”

Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed said it was ironic that this all act of curbing religious freedom occurred during the regime of a person who was himself an a’lim. Ulema’s only crime was that they wanted to do dawah work, and plead for Islamic laws, he added.

Sheikh Rasheed, who did Hifz-e-Quran from Dabhel (Gujarat) and got further education at Bharuch in India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (Jamia Ummul Qura, Makkah), said he along with his associate Sheikh Ilyas Hussain had actually come to Kolkata at the invitation of the Communist Party of India (M) and Forward Block to participate in a function there, however, past memories about Delhi prompted them to come here. He recalled when he came to Delhi last time in 1979 as a student, late Maulana Syed Asad Madani used to be Jamiat Ulema chief, and he had met him.

Adds Fana Watch Bureau: Adhaalath Party chief Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed was recently in news for challenging Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party Chairman and former President Mamoun Abdul Gayyoom who in a speech at one of the party meetings had allegedly said: “The descent of Jesus in the end times is a myth and false concept. Hijab is not compulsory in Islam, and also not required. Growing of beards by men is only an Arabic, not Islamic tradition. And, finally, shaking hands with anonymous women is not prohibited in Islam.” Then Sheikh Rasheed invited Abdul Gayyoom to join a debate over the issue on national radio and TV. However, the latter refused to accept the challenge and termed it “politically motivated”.

Presently, there are ten political parties in the country. They are i. Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), ii. Adhaalath Party, iii. Maldives National Congress, iv. Jamhoory Party, v. Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), vi. Islamic Development Party (IDP), vii. Liberal Party, viii. People’s Party, ix. Maldives Socialist Democratic Party, and x. People’s Alliance. Out of which four MDP, Adhaalath Party, Maldives National Congress and Jamhoory Party have formed an alliance to run a coalition government. Adhaalath Party has a share of four ministers in the present coalition government headed by MDP leader Mohammed Nasheed. Its men include Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari, Islamic Affairs Minister besides one cabinet and two ministers of state ranks. It has also gained a Parliamentary seat in the recent Parliamentary elections in May 2009. The seat was won by a party activist Abdul Muttalib.

There had not been political parties in the Maldives since 1952. A 1968 referendum approved a Constitution making Maldives a republic with executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The Constitution was amended in 1970, 1972, 1975, and 1997 and is again under revision. Ibrahim Nasir, Prime Minister under the pre-1968 sultanate remained President from 1968 to 1978. He was succeeded by Mamoun Abdul Gayyoom who remained in power till 2008 for six terms and 30 years. On November 3, 1988, Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries had tried to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Gayoom's request, the Indian military had suppressed the coup attempt within 24 hours.

There had been demonstrations calling for political reforms in the Maldives since 2003. However, the political parties were allowed to come into being in June 2005. The Maldives have scored poorly on some indices of freedom.

Violent protests had broken out in Male on September 20, 2003 after Evan Naseem, a prisoner, was killed in Maafushi jail, after the most brutal torture, reportedly by prison staff. An attempt to cover up the death was foiled when the mother of the dead man discovered the marks of torture on his body and made it public, therefore triggering the riots. A subsequent disturbance in the prison resulted in three deaths when police guards at the prison opened fire on the inmates. Several government buildings were set on fire during the riots. As a result of pressure from reformists, the junior prison guards responsible for Naseem's death were subsequently tried, convicted and sentenced in 2005 in what was believed to be a show trial that avoided the senior officers involved being investigated. The report of an inquiry into the prison shootings was heavily censored by the Government, citing "national security" grounds. Pro-reformists claimed this was in order to cover-up the chain of authority and circumstances that led to the killings.

There were fresh protests on August 13, 2004 (Black Friday) which appeared to have had begun as a demand for the release of four political activists from detention. Over 5,000 demonstrators were involved. After two police officers were reportedly stabbed, allegedly by government agent provocateur, President Gayoom declared a State of Emergency and suppressed the demonstration, suspending all human rights guaranteed under the Constitution, banning demonstrations and the expression of views critical of the government. At least 250 pro-reform protestors were arrested. As part of the state of emergency, and to prevent independent reporting of events, the government shut off internet access and some mobile telephone services to Maldives on August 13-14, 2004.

A new Constitution was ratified in August 2008, paving the way for the country's first multi-party presidential election two months later. According to the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Islam is the State religion of the Maldives, and adherence to it is legally required of citizens by a revision of the Constitution in 2008. Article 9, Section D states that “ a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives”.

Mohammed Nasheed took over as President on November 11, 2008. He is both the chief of state and head of government. The Assembly (Majlis) has 77 members elected by the people. At national level, Maldives elects a head of State known as President and a legislature. The President is elected for a five-year term by Parliament and confirmed in a referendum by the people. The legal system is based on Islamic law with admixtures of English common law primarily in commercial matters. Maldives has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

It is to point out that the Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of 26 atolls stretching in a north-south direction off India’s Lakshwadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The atolls of Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometers, making it one of the most disparate countries in the world. It features 1,192 islets of which two hundred are inhabited. It is the smallest predominantly Muslim country in the world. During the period of European exploration and colonialism, the Maldives came under the influence of the Portuguese in 1558 and the Dutch in 1654. In 1887 the islands became a British protectorate. In 1965 the country obtained Independence from Britain under the name "Maldive Islands".

The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in both population and area. With an average ground level of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, it is the lowest country on the planet. It is also the country with the lowest highest point in the world, at 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in).

An October 2009 cabinet meeting was held under water to publicize to the wider world the threat of global warming on the low-lying islands of the Maldives.  Interestingly, the ministers wore scuba gear and communicated with hand signals.

This is the land visited by Ibne Batuta, a Moroccan Berber Muslim scholar and traveler, who is known for the account of his travels and excursions called the Rihla (Voyage) in Arabic, in the 14th century. He spent nine months in the Maldives out of his entire journey spread over 30 years. 

---A U Asif, Editor, www.fanawatch.com, can be reached at au_asif@yahoo.co.in