The regime in Maldives could not meet the resistance and the
foreign pressure created by the human rights and
pro-democracy forces any longer. The main force raising the
issue of recent incidents of brutality is Maldivian
Democratic Party, working in exile. They are the main voice
fighting for the constitutional rights of freedom of
expression and association in the Maldives.
The formal application for registering MDP in 2001 was
rejected by this government, which is an act of treason, the
undermining of the constitution, article 27.
Intimidation and defamation of the signatories to the party
followed soon after, such as the unseating of Mohamed
Nasheed (Male’ Member of Parliament). Detaining and
harassment of others in the eminent group were low tactics
used by the regime.
September 2003 killings and murder incidents eroded the
image of Maldives as a peaceful and serene island nation, a
holiday paradise. The brutal murder of Eevan Naseem by 12
National Security Guards and the use of Kalashnikov the next
day killing 3 more inmates and injuring 17 others were
barbaric and heinous acts. President of Maldives, who is
also the Commander in Chief, the Minister of Defence &
National Security, the Minister of Finance & Treasury and
the Governor of Maldives Monitory Authority and the Chief
Administrator of Justice, addressed the nation on 20th
September on TV and Radio, admitting that the police fired
warning shots to control the riots, before “shooting in a
way that bullets would hit their bodies”. This was a clear
admission of responsibility by the government. An
indication, that the authorities had no choice but to take
the harsh action. An indication, that there was a clear
order from the high authority to quell the rebellion and
riots in the jail. He was also, unaware of the number of
deaths or perhaps not informed of an incident that took
place more than 6 hours before his speech. By this time,
many in Male’ had already seen the dead body of inmate
Abdullah Ameem, who was shot in the head in addition to
Eevan Naseem. The local media did not report these
incidents and the unrest in Male’ that followed. In order to
avoid further embarrassment from this hideous act, the dead
an injured were flown to Sri Lanka and 2 more died there
later. In the days that followed, he told the victims’
parents that "they should be happy that their children went
to heaven". According to Islamic philosophy, if one is
killed by someone for no reason he/she will go to heaven.
The news of this incident came to the attention of world
media much later on 17th October 2003, when a
special BBC report covered the story.
In this "wounded psyche" society, justice could not be
achieved unless there was a clear distinction of powers of
the executive, the legislator and the judiciary. Someone or
some body had to stand and confront this aggression and
infringement on the basic rights of the people of Maldives
by a dictator who does not want to reform or respect the
constitution of the land.
Hence they wasted no time to fly to neighbouring Sri Lanka
and after settling there, declared MDP in exile. Since then
they have played very active role in informing the world
about the brutal dictatorship in the Maldives, which has
been cleverly silhouetted for the past 25 years. The human
rights abuses, torture and killings, the deprivation of
basic human rights, such as right to assemble, right to
express and to associate, nepotism and the rule with an iron
fist were all news to the world. MDP took the bold step and
challenged the dictator on behalf of the people of the
Maldives, by unveiling all the darker side of the “unique
democracy”, by showing the other side of the postcard. They
took no time to formulate the methods to reach their voice
to the world community.
In the face of mounting pressure from the reformist free
thinks and pro-democracy movement by MDP and because of the
attention from the world media, the despotic regime had to
organise covert illegal operations in an attempt to
clampdown and halt the activities of MDP and its supporters.
Who better to do the job than Koli Ali Maniku? Once again,
he went back to his old dirty tactics to
harass and intimidate the people representing MDP and
working in the MDP Secretariat Regional Office in Colombo.
People posing as CID visited the office and houses of MDP
collaborators and members in Colombo. Mr. Latheef faced
difficulty in renewing his visa and there were rumours that
he was going to be deported. By collaborating and
negotiating with officials and diplomats in Colombo, the
matter is now resolved and Mr. Latheef has been granted a
visa as requested. Rumour has that Koli Ali Maniku spent a
handsome amount in Colombo to handle this operation.
Perhaps, he never paid anyone and banked the money the lot,
as usual.
Sri Lankan people and its government have always been very
kind and good to the people of Maldives. They have helped
the people of Maldives, "umbalakada" traders, and treat
Maldivians as relatives. “Sri Lankan people are extremely
nice and warm people” says a Maldivian who lived in Sri
Lanka for 5 years. MDP members feel very comfortable and
homely in Sri Lanka, because many of them lived and studied
in Sri Lanka’s famous Trinity college of Kandy, a reason why
they also have Sri Lankan friends, who are respectable and
powerful, who feel for the desperate call of their brothers
and sisters in the Maldives.
Maniku, who is over 70 years now, studied and worked in Sri
Lanka as the chief of Maldivian Shipping Line during the
time of previous President Mr.Ibrahim Nasir. So he would be
having lots of contacts in Sri Lanka. It is alleged that he
had to leave Sri Lanka due to some fraud cases. He shifted
the Maldives Shipping Line office to Bombay in India and
later to Singapore, where he currently resides. He is famous
to the sailors as a filthy, inhuman and a brutal person. The
Maldivian shipping fleet of over 100 vessels when the
current regime acquired power in 1978, is currently trimmed
down only to 3 vessels. It is said that this shipping line have
reached to near bankruptcy although it is not declared and
Hon. Fathulla Jameel had to be called in for the rescue.
He has been the person who takes the tasks of controlling
the past attempts against the regime of Maumoon and
salvaging it from difficulties, such as the 1981 coup
attempt allegedly plotted by Mr. Kerafaa Naseem, the coup
attempt by Luthfee and Sagarey in 1988 and the clampdown on
Sandhaanu Newsletter producers is also claimed to be
masterminded by him. Koli boasts to the outside world that
he is the effective ruler of Maldives and moves around with
a RED Diplomatic Passport? His proof of alleged ownership of
a small country called Maldives.
Koli Ali Maniku desperately failed to halt and bring an end
to MDP and its activities in Sri Lanka. It is not only Koli
who has friends in Sri Lanka. He might be able to command to
Maumoon not to MDP and its supporters worldwide.
