Male’, Maldives – The Scholars Union consisting of some of the most renowned religious scholars in Maldives, have expressed their concern over the lack of action against those involved in the case of the non-religious report released by Maldivian Democratic Network (MDN) which is an extremist group.
The MDN report first came to light on October 3rd 2019 and many renowned scholars played a major role in bringing the matter to light and explaining the dangers of such a report to the public. The Scholars Union was created for this purpose as to urge the government to ban MDN and take action against those involved in the report.
MDN’s registration was terminated on December 19th 2019 after continuous efforts and protests from the public as well. However, even after one year after the matter of the report came to light, no action whatsoever has been taken against any of the individuals involved in the report nor have they been summoned to the police. Even after the decision taken back in 2019, the leaders of the extremist group are still active and carry out their work on a wide scale .
The Scholars Union had a panel discussion last night targeting the one year anniversary since MDN was terminated. Speaking at the meeting, Sheikh Nimaal Mohamed said that just the mere termination of the group is not sufficient and that the statements in the MDN report are quite dangerous. He also said that the culprits of the case roaming around freely is and encouragement for anyone that wants to do such a thing. Sheikh Nimaal further noted that while he is grateful for the decision to terminate the group, lack of action against such culprits is something that concerns him and said that they must be awarded the punishment in the Islamic Shariath for such a crime.
Following the remarks from Sheikh Nimaal, Sheikh Ali Zahir also expressed his concern over the lack of action against such a crime. He said that even though MDN has been legally terminated, they are active and have been taking part in different actions at a national level as well. He noted that the scholars will not hesitate in working against MDN and that the union will do everything possible to stop the actions of MDN.
This report did not get published on its own. It was carefully planned by a group of people. Hence, there must be someone who was behind it, people who took part in it, and other who encouraged it. Our concern is that no action has been taken against these people. It is evident that those behind the report are active in our society today. It really concerns us that these people are being given opportunities to take part in national level discussions.
Sheikh Ali Zahir
Skeikh Mohamed Nasheed Adam also added that the report poses a major threat to the Islamic spirit of Maldives and that it is a major conspiracy from a certain group of Maldivians. He also noted that other than punishing the criminals, work must be done inorder to build a society which can reform our selves. He noted that those leaning towards secularism must be explained to as why secularism is despised in our community and said that a muslim will not pose a threat to their society.
