hithadhoo2
Illegal MDP Rally: More Details of Plans
Aishath Zeena, S.Atoll Correspondent reporting from Hithadhoo
S. Hithadhoo, Maldives, 12 Jan 2006, 8:00 PM (olhuala.com) – Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) backed thugs plan to kidnap a 'high profile Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) member' tonight according to sources within the MDP in Hithadhoo. Secret MDP cell meetings have been ongoing in preparation for tonight's illegal MDP rally that was called at short notice to coincide with the DRP's long anticipated public meeting.
According to our source, who was present at a closed MDP cell meeting in Hithadhoo this afternoon, the cell leader briefed his followers of a plan to 'take hostage one or members of the DRP team" attending their meeting. "We shall take them to one of the uninhabited islands, tie them up and leave them".
Addu is an atoll with large islands where search parties may take several days to complete a thorough search.
These comments echo the incidents in Gaafu Dhaal Fares Maathoda earlier this month. A group of government employees and private surveyors were taken hostage and held hostage for two days by MDP thugs, leading to police intervention.
But this kind of talk is dismissed by local residents as attempts to create fear in the community. Hithadhoo resident Seema Saeed said: "We have heard this talk before, but this is not Huvadhoo [Gaafu Alif and Gaafu Dhaal]. People here act more responsibly and will never be part of such an act."
"It may also be another attempt to get the police Star Force and the National Security Service (NSS) involved. A strategy we have seen being used by the MDP."
It has also emerged that the MDP decision-makers had expected the DRP to take fear and call off their meeting once the MDP called its illegal rally. Privately, the DRP team has laughed off any such suggestion as ludicrous. Justice Minister Uz. Mohamed Jameel is reported to have said: "Who do they think we are? Helpless babies? The majority of the people in this atoll have been scared for a long time now to voice their opinions due to intimidation by these MDP thugs."
"We have come to stand up for them. We will make a statement by not bowing down to fear. We will liberate the good people of this atoll so that they will not be afraid to stand up for themselves in the future. This will be the last day of thug-culture in Hithadhoo."
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Aishath Zeena, S.Atoll Correspondent reporting from Hithadhoo
S. Hithadhoo, Maldives, 12 Jan 2006, 8:00 PM (olhuala.com) – Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) backed thugs plan to kidnap a 'high profile Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) member' tonight according to sources within the MDP in Hithadhoo. Secret MDP cell meetings have been ongoing in preparation for tonight's illegal MDP rally that was called at short notice to coincide with the DRP's long anticipated public meeting.
According to our source, who was present at a closed MDP cell meeting in Hithadhoo this afternoon, the cell leader briefed his followers of a plan to 'take hostage one or members of the DRP team" attending their meeting. "We shall take them to one of the uninhabited islands, tie them up and leave them".
Addu is an atoll with large islands where search parties may take several days to complete a thorough search.
These comments echo the incidents in Gaafu Dhaal Fares Maathoda earlier this month. A group of government employees and private surveyors were taken hostage and held hostage for two days by MDP thugs, leading to police intervention.
But this kind of talk is dismissed by local residents as attempts to create fear in the community. Hithadhoo resident Seema Saeed said: "We have heard this talk before, but this is not Huvadhoo [Gaafu Alif and Gaafu Dhaal]. People here act more responsibly and will never be part of such an act."
"It may also be another attempt to get the police Star Force and the National Security Service (NSS) involved. A strategy we have seen being used by the MDP."
It has also emerged that the MDP decision-makers had expected the DRP to take fear and call off their meeting once the MDP called its illegal rally. Privately, the DRP team has laughed off any such suggestion as ludicrous. Justice Minister Uz. Mohamed Jameel is reported to have said: "Who do they think we are? Helpless babies? The majority of the people in this atoll have been scared for a long time now to voice their opinions due to intimidation by these MDP thugs."
"We have come to stand up for them. We will make a statement by not bowing down to fear. We will liberate the good people of this atoll so that they will not be afraid to stand up for themselves in the future. This will be the last day of thug-culture in Hithadhoo."
Click to read full article