Apr 16, 2011

With flagging of varied threats from maritime piracy, terrorism to gang violence, the Maldives government is putting into place structured mechanisms to consolidate security. The National Security Advisor to the President has formed Maritime Security Coordinating Committee as part of national maritime security policy within the National Security Framework as announced by President Mohamed Nasheed in his presidential address to the first session of the parliament.

The maritime security awareness programme is to comprise of eight action plans to include propagating and analysing awareness on maritime domains, the layout of a maritime security information plan, identification of internal threats, improving international relations, identification of marine threats, protecting maritime security network, and monitoring transport system and trade routes. The  NSA has also formed the Maritime Security Policy Coordinating Committee with representation from 15 relevant government authorities. The 15 authorities include the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Environment, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ministry of Health and Family, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Attorney General’s Office, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Ports Limited, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Maldives Police Service and the Civil Aviation Department.

            With Maldives falling in the piracy zone the efforts of government to coordinate security in the seas is laudable. There are increasing reports of the pirates from Somalia attempting to expand their reach towards the Southern Indian Ocean as operations have been now stream lined on the whole in the immediate periphery of the Somali mainland with ships following charted course proving difficult to target. Maldives in particular has to be cautious given relative isolation in the Ocean. Integration of plans with Sri Lanka and India would be the way ahead for the atoll nation may not have the desired resources to meet the increasing challenge.

With growing incidents of gang violence, President Mohamed Nasheed has established a special committee to curb gang related crimes in Maldives to consist of National Security Advisor Ameen Faisal, Home Minister Hassan Afeef, Attorney General Abdulla Muiz, State Defence Minister Mohamed Muiz Adnan and Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz. A special task force to curb serious and organised crime has also been established led by Maldives Police Service and will consist of officials from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS), Attorney General’s Office, Ministry of Education, Courts of law, Prosecutor General’s Office, Maldives Customs Service, Ministry of Health and Family, Ministry of Human Resources Youth and Sports, Immigration Department and officials from the Local Government Authority.

Meanwhile Interpol denied media reports in the Maldives that it was hunting two Maldivian nationals over alleged plans to attack the 2011 Cricket World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Interpol claimed that a reported confirmation from” officials” cited in the article, alleging the involvement of “four Pakistanis, two Maldivians and an Afghan” in an alleged terror plot had not been made as the organisation had not received any such information.

The mystery over alleged involvement of Maldives citizens to target the World Cup cricket is growing as the Haveeru newspaper in Maldives had quoted Interpol source in its story. The involvement of Maldivian citizen has come up after 2007 bomb attack in Male which had resulted in minor injuries to tourists including some foreign tourists at a resort in the county. This was the only such incident in the atoll nation. There are however fears of growth of fundamentalism and extremism including training of some youth in Taliban camps in Pakistan. These were reportedly those who had gone for studying in Pakistan. The government has been ambivalent about these incidents and there are concerns with some madrassas reported to be harbouring extremist elements. These reports are not wholly substantiated but the Maldives government will have to adopt a more proactive policy to track and investigate these inputs from time to time.