On Monday (29th April), a minor altercation was reported to have happened between Maldivians and a couple of Indians near Central Park in Hulhumale, around 7 km Northeast of Male. The clashes broke between the two groups at around 9 pm after which a couple of people suffered injuries and were shifted to the Hulhumale hospital. Meanwhile, the local Police detained one of the Maldivians for launching an alleged attack.
As per the reports, the unidentified injured persons were released after being treated well at the hospital. In another similar incident, an Israeli woman was harassed by the local people of Maldives and was kicked out of the Island on 30th April. The incident was proudly shared by Muad Mohamed Zaki, one of the founders of the Maldives multi-party democratic system.
Sharing the blurred photograph of the Israeli tourist woman, Zaki wrote on X, “Israeli tourist tried to enter one of the islands in the Maldives for a holiday while her country commits genocide. She was kicked out by the local island community and the last reports indicate she was on her way back to the airport after realizing humanity does not welcome them anymore.”
Extending support to Palestine and Hamas terrorist
It is important to note that the Maldives which is a densely Muslim-populated island stood by Palestine during the recent altercation that happened between Israel and Palestine. The Hamas launched an attack on Israel in October 2023 and brutally murdered men, raped women, and even killed children and elders. The women were stripped naked and paraded by the Hamas terrorist organization after which Israel launched a retaliatory attack on the Gaza strip. Amid this several Islamic countries including Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Maldives, etc sided with Palestine and criticized Israel for launching an attack on Palestine.
The Maldivian government voiced concern about the growing violence in the Gaza Strip and reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian people. Its administration stated that sustainable peace in the Middle East could only be possible through a two-state solution based on pre-1967 lines, with East Jerusalem serving as Palestine’s capital.
Ban on Israeli tourists and products
Also, the Maldives Parliament recently unanimously voted on a resolution condemning Israeli aggression on Palestine, thus prohibiting the entry of Israeli passport holders and the import of Israeli-made goods. On October 14, 2023, Saud Hussain, Member of Parliament for Villingili, sponsored a resolution that gained unanimous approval from 41 members.
The parliamentary committee denounced the Israeli troops’ abuses against Palestinians in the occupied regions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The majority of MPs called for an outright ban on Israeli passport holders entering the Maldives as tourists. The resolution additionally placed an absolute prohibition on all Israeli products and imports, and it urged the government to cut all existing diplomatic relations with Israel.
As per the Indian Today journalist Gaurav Sawant, the Maldives Islands have proceeded to become one of the most radicalized, extremist regions which is the hub of not only ISIS operatives but also Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). “The Maldives between 2014-18 sent more people to fight Jihad for the Islamic State than any other country in the world. 250 men and women from Maldives (a country of 500,000) went to fight for ISIS. Many died,” he said.
“That Israeli tourist should consider herself lucky she was only thrown out of that highly radicalized environment. She is lucky to have escaped alive. The level of radicalization of youth in Maldives has been a cause for concern. Pakistan ISIS, LeT & JeM have been active there too,” he further added in a series of X posts.
As per the reports, following the 2004 tsunami, the growth of Islamic radicalism in the Maldives accelerated. According to the 2022 census, the Maldives’ population is 5.15 lakh, with 1.32 lakh foreigners, the majority of them are from neighboring South Asian nations and work in different blue-collar jobs. Administratively, the Maldives currently has 189 islands, 18 atolls, and four cities.
Maldives adapting to Islamic communal ideology
For hundreds of years, the Maldives remained predominantly Buddhist. In the 12th century, however, many of them converted to Islam. In 2004, as the waters of the Indian Ocean dwindled, religious experts and people claiming to be part of civil society from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia gathered in large numbers in the capital Male to offer assistance to the population.
In actuality, the majority of these groups were linked to communal and armed groups, including Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s charity wing, which used their arrival in Male to preach communal Islam. When these groups left the Maldives, they brought with them naive and unemployed teenagers for religious training in Pakistan and Arabia. The charitable arm was later classified as a terrorist organization by the US administration in April 2006.
In a paper delivered in December 2011 at the Naval Postgraduate School in California titled “Islamism and Radicalism in the Maldives” by Hassan Amir, it was highlighted that the capital city of Male had become more radicalized. Amir is now a senior officer in the Maldivian National Force. According to his argument, Maldivians have been seeking ideological and operational inspiration from regional radical groups since the 1990s.
“More than a dozen youths, who had attended an educational institution in Pakistan operated by Jamiyah al-Salafiyya, had been indoctrinated against the government of Qayoom. They entertained and expressed sentiments of anti-government coups and the desire to institute a theocratic sharia-based state in Maldives,” Amir wrote.
The thesis reveals that Maldivian youth in Pakistan were arrested and banished to remote islands, but continued preaching without fear of law and order. During the Afghan war, many students studied in Pakistani seminaries and traveled to jihadi camps. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami aided regional terrorist organizations in the Maldives, as the country suffered significant devastation. Terrorists under the guise of ‘Charity organizations’, provided humanitarian aid and financial assistance to affected populations.
These groups also provided ideological guidance to disaster-stricken Maldives youth, enrolling them in Pakistani religious seminaries or recruiting them for sinister purposes, particularly in the Laamu atoll region.
Maldives had 1400 radicals willing to kill people in service of Islam
Moosa Inas, one of the perpetrators of the 2007 Sultan Park (in Maldives) bomb explosion that injured more than twelve international visitors, was among those providing help on behalf of this mysterious financier.
Inas and his fellow fighters made it obvious to the unfortunate islanders that the money they had at their disposal would only be spent on those willing to join them in promoting their communal Islamic ideology. In addition to this specific group, ‘charitable organizations’ like as Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) occurred to be very important. The IKK has a connection to the Ahl-e-Hadith sects that operate in the region, and they have also established themselves in the Maldives.
The IKK is linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (which engages in Tabligh, or active evangelizing) and the more dangerous Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Pakistan-based terrorist organizations responsible for several assaults in India, Pakistan, and other parts of the region. The linkages between Islamic ‘charity’ organizations and active evangelizing are visible in the shifting Islamic discourse and behaviors that are spreading throughout Maldivian society. The scope of radicalism in the Maldives became obvious later on.
In December 2019, the Maldives’ “Islamic ministry” suspended the preaching licenses of three professors accused of advocating terrorism, “spreading hatred, encouraging inhumane and degrading acts, and supporting civil wars in other countries.” It was part of the crackdown after information revealed that the Maldives had approximately 1,400 radicals willing to kill in the service of Islam.
The Maldives also has the terrible reputation of supplying the most foreign fighters per capita to Syria and Iraq, who went on to fight for ISIS. The research by Amir, among other things, cautioned that ultra-conservative religious ideologies supported by foreign sources were radicalizing traditional religious beliefs to the detriment of progressive societal objectives embodied in the Maldives’ democratic constitution. From 2013 to 2018, the Maldives has the highest per capita number of fighters heading to Syria.
Spat between India and Maldives
Recently, in January 2024, a major conflict erupted between India and Maldives after a couple of Ministers from the Island made derogatory comments against PM Modi. Ministers namely Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef, and Mahzoom Majid, had called Prime Minister Modi a ‘clown’ and a ‘puppet of Israel’ in response to his posts about Lakshadweep islands. The ministers were later suspended by the Maldivian government.
Later though the government distanced itself from the comments made by the Maldivian ministers, several Indian tourists canceled their plans to visit Maldives and considered visiting Lakshwadeep instead under the ‘Explore Indian Islands’ trend that had emerged on social media amid the spat between the two countries.
Maldives is a small island nation with a population of 520,000 and is significantly reliant on India for essentials such as food, infrastructure, and technological developments. However, its radicalized, extremist ideological shift towards Islam supporting the Hamas terrorists against Israel and other groups alike remains a concern. Maldives is also known for its lack of religious freedom for non-Muslims. As per reports, tourists cannot practice their religion in Maldives and cannot worship in public areas. Recently, three Indian visitors were arrested in Maldives for placing the idols of God there.
In the given case also a Maldivian has been detained for launching an attack on Indians. However, the injured individuals have been released from the hospital after being provided with proper medical care. Further investigations are underway.
