The multi-disciplinary Maldivian armed forces have since raised the security alert status throughout the country after the Government in a risky-yet-welcome move acknowledged the presence of 1,400 ‘ready-to-kill-for-the-cause’ radicals across the Indian Ocean archipelago nation. According to a press release by the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), the alert status was raised to 'Yellow-2', indicating an ‘increased or predictable threat’ to the security and sovereignty of the nation and entailing security agencies to carry weapons and carrying out searches even on vessels at sea within Maldivian waters – and possibly also in the nation’s famed, high-end tourist resorts, if required.
The 2008 Constitution bars the armed forces and the police from carrying weapons without the written and express authorisation of the President, for opening the armoury. That the Government risked numbering the killer-radicals and initiating security measures during the annual high-season for the nation’s tourism economy should speak for the seriousness with which the administration is approaching ‘Islamic terrorism’ nearer home.
The Government’s admission that as many as 1,400 Maldivians are ‘ready-to-kill-for-their-cause’ was made by the nation’s top-cop, and has been been endorsed by none other than President Ibrahim Solih. Going beyond the new security alert, the announcement has been accompanied by various arms of the Government launching sustainable efforts at addressing the nation’s short, medium and long-term concerns in this regard,
Addressing island-councillors from across the country, Commissioner of Police (CP) Hameed Mohamed said that these 1,400 persons followed the ideologies of the international terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) and would not hesitate to kill their fellow man to defend their beliefs. Lending greater credibility to the statistics is CP Hameed giving a break-down, category-wise.
Accordingly, 173 of the 432 Maldivians who wanted to join the Syrian civil war actually made it. Of them, 50 insurgents, mostly children, were still in Syria, and four males “are in the condition to be brought back to Maldives”. These numbers were formerly kept confidential and are being brought out for the Government to end rampant extremism with the” help of the community,” CP Hameed requested for the cooperation of grassroots-level island and atoll councils in the matter.
In context, the PC also mentioned an unreported attempt by a Maldivian based in Syria leading an attempt to detonate an aerial bomb in the capital Male, supported by Islamic State (IS), in 2017. As he acknowledged, many Maldivians who fought in the Syrian and Afghan conflicts returned to Maldives and continued to spread extremist ideologies in the nation’s inhabited islands.
In his concluding remarks at the conference, President Solih said there was no benefit from suppressing or keeping the information about extremism hidden from the public. “We have accepted that extremist ideology is present in the Maldives. We have to accept that people go to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to fight in the name of jihad. That is happening in the country and our Government has accepted it. We are taking on a difficult challenge but the Government’s policy is to face this and find a solution,” the Maldives Independent reported him as saying.
As, other speakers at the conference explained how religious hard-liners considered Maldives to be a “land of sin”, refused to accept the nation’s Constitution and laws, and believe that Maldivians who did not share their views were infidels whose wealth could be rightfully seized. Local extremists thus illegally married under-aged girls out of court and refused to vaccinate their children or send them to school as “they consider education to be a Western ideology.” More than 250 cases of parents refusing to send children to school have been reported to the ministry of gender, family and social services.
Acting swiftly on the conference disclosures, authorities have since checked upon 20 children from nine homes in an operation against a separatist extremist group that was depriving women and children of education and healthcare in Maduvvari island. Four children were vaccinated after their parents were counselled, and one child was removed from her home environment and placed in the care of an aunt, the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services said in a statement.
A new child protection law enacted last month prohibits denying vaccination to children. According to the police, the girl was taken after her parents refused to vaccinate her or send her to school despite repeated advice by Gender Ministry officials – indicating that it was all a well thought-out and coordinated effort, going beyond law-enforcement agencies. “In early December, a 13-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by a member of the extremist group was taken into State care,” the Maldives Independent recalled.
As further proof of the Solih Government’s seriousness in containing and curbing religious extremism and radical Islamic teaching in the country, the Islamic Ministry, on its part, has since cancelled the Government licences of four persons for ‘preaching Islam’. The fact that they came from different atolls in the country should go on to show the depth and width of information in the Government’s possession.
According to the Islamic Ministry, three scholars were “spreading hatred, encouraging inhumane and degrading acts and supporting civil wars in other countries”. The fourth one was “speaking of disputed issues in Islam in a manner that would cause disunity in the community”. He was also accused of slandering prominent scholars and offering his own explanations and views on social media.
The Government’s anti-radicalisation efforts have come in the midst of its determination to ensure that individuals and groups did not get away with slandering traditional practices. It was in this background that the Solih dispensation suspended the work of an NGO group, Maldivian Democratic Network (MDN), which has since appealed against the Government order.
In the meantime, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NTC) has come up with a definition of extremist ideology with a guideline on how to identify hard-liners, for the benefit of the nation’s population. “Extremist ideology denies in words and deeds the spirit of the Constitution, legal principles and societal norms, and becomes harsh, violent and cruel in advocating against them,” the NCTC explained in a statement.
In a world where no common definition exists for the term ‘terrorism’, including ‘religious terrorism’, the NCTC has also provided a list of defining traits:
As may be recalled, the current efforts seem to be coming also as a follow up a Presidential Commission, appointed by incumbent Solih, identifying the existence of Al-Qaeda and breakaway ISIS groups in the country, and involved in the killing of ‘independent thinkers’ opposed to radicalisation. Unlike other Governments in Maldives and elsewhere, the Solih leadership did not stop with a single or a singular initiative – and has combined security initiatives with social education and co-ordinated pro-activism.
For the Indian neighbour, the Maldivian acknowledgement should provide a cause for increased concern and also a relief that the current political bosses in Male are serious in wanting to tackle the problem. Through the past decade, Indian agencies became aware of the presence of some Maldivian militants in Mumbai and also an attempt to send Maldivians based in Sri Lanka to target US and Israeli consulates in Chennai and Bengaluru, respectively.
Over the years, cooperation between India and Maldives on the shared security concerns and interests have only increased even when political relations between the two sea neighbours had been strained under President Yameen (2013-18). Increased intelligence-sharing on counter-terrorism measures and also training of personnel was accompanied by India laying down a radar network for the purpose and such other measures.
President Solih’s election in September and swearing-in in November last year also ended the avoidable controversy over the Yameen Government insisting on India taking back the two helicopters gifted for Maldivian aerial search operations over the vast seas. Last month, through a video-conferencing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi donated one more patrol vessel to President Solih, in Male.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
N. Sathiya Moorthy is a policy analyst and commentator based in Chennai.
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