Nearly 10 Maldivians have died in Waziristan conflict and another 100 are fighting in Pakistan-Afghanistan border, President Mohamed Nasheed said warning his people against religious extremism.
The statement came in President Nasheed’s weekly radio address.
“The activities of religious extremist elements can potentially cause great harm to the country and the entire region,” President’s office said quoting his speech.
“With that information, the question for us during the past 11 or 12 months was: how should the government react? We came to the conclusion, and experts in the area advise, that people must first acknowledge the existence of the problem in order to find a solution,” Nasheed said.
He urged people to share information related to extremism.
However the President ruled out the threat of a terrorist attack in the Maldives assuring that the country has received support from India, the United States, Britain, and Pakistan on counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing.
Meanwhile, the country’s recent decision to normalize relations with Israel saw protest and it gave rise to concerns of a possible Al-Queda attack in the Maldives.
Religious extremism is a growing menace in this country.
Its first ever bomb blast in the capital Male’ in 2007, discrimination against women and recently exposed issues like child concubines where children are kept as sex slaves are all blamed on extremism.
A probe into alleged reports of child concubines, ordered by the President is now on.
Maldives announces wind farm energy project
Taking a major step towards going carbon neutral in a decade, the Maldives has announced a wind farm energy project.
The Maldives’ State Electric Company Limited, STELCO signed a 20-year agreement with Falcon Energy, whereby Falcon Energy to build and operate a 75 megawatt wind farm in Gaafaru island, North Male’ atoll, President’s office said.
The wind farm will produce clean electricity for North Male’ atoll, which includes the capital Male’ island, the international airport island of Hulhule’ and a number of luxury tourist resorts.
The $200 million foreign direct investment is expected to be completed in 20 months.
On windy days, excess electricity generated by the turbines will be used to run a water desalination plant, which will produce bottled drinking water.
On calm days, a liquefied natural gas plant will provide 50MW of back-up power, it said.
The project will provide an economic windfall for the remote island of Gaafaru, it said.
“Many of the island’s 800 inhabitants will be offered lucrative jobs in maintaining the wind farm equipments and facilities.”
The project was announced at a Monday’s ceremony.
“The government understood the importance of breaking the Maldives’ dependence on the unpredictable price of foreign oil,” President Mohamed Nasheed told the ceremony.
He added the government’s shift to wind was due to “environmental consciousness and financial prudence.”
Nasheed said the winners of the 21st century would be “the countries who were ready to embrace renewable energy and green technologies.”
He added: “We want the Maldives to be a winner of the 21st century.”
Early this year Nasheed pledged to make the Maldives go carbon neutral in a decade.
He repeated his pledge at the UN General Assembly in a landmark speech to world leaders to help save the island nation from the adverse effects of climate change.
Maldives celebrates Victory Day
The Maldives National Defense Forces yesterday celebrated Victory Day, its defeat of a coup attempt by Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries who tried to topple the government on November 3, 1988.
The martyrs who sacrificed their lives on that day too were honoured yesterday.
Several activities were lined up to celebrate the day, according to MNDF.
Day’s activities began with early morning prayers followed by a walk of MNDF members in the Capital Male’.
The MNDF also shared information with youngsters about martyr Hussein Adam.
- Asian Tribune -
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