MALDIVES GOING DOWN THE PATH OF PAK-INSPIRED RADICALISM

The spread of radicalization in Maldives gained pace post the tsunami that impacted the nation in 2004.

The anti-India rhetoric by political entities in Maldives has confirmed the understanding of the security apparatus in Delhi that individuals and groups radicalised in the seminaries of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have now become a part of the ruling set-up in capital Male.

Incidentally, this observation, for a long time, was being discussed among the close circles of Maldivian academics and observers who are based outside of Maldives.

The spread of Islamic radicalization in Maldives, people with whom The Sunday Guardian spoke to, has gained pace post the tsunami that impacted the nation in 2004.

As per the 2022 census, the population of Maldives is 5.15 lakh, of which 1.32 lakh are foreigners, mostly from other South Asian countries who are working there in various blue collar jobs. Administratively, there are currently 189 islands, 18 atolls and 4 cities in the Maldives.

Predominantly Buddhist for hundreds of years, the Maldives converted to Islam in the 12th century.

In 2004, once the waters of the Indian Ocean ebbed, religious scholars and people who claimed to be members of civil society, from across Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, arrived in huge numbers in capital Male to help the people. In reality, a majority of all these groups were related to communal and armed groups, including Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, the charity arm of Lashkar-e-Taiba, who used their entry into Male to spread communal Islam. When these groups left Maldives, they took with them gullible and unemployed youths for religious training to Pakistan and Arabia. The said charity arm was designated as a terror group by the United States administration in April 2006.