On June 5, 2007, I gave an interview to Al-Jazeera laying the blame for the proliferation of the drug-culture in the Maldives on Maldives Police Services.
Considering the fact that the population of the Maldives is around 300,000 people, 70% of them are under 35 years of age. It works to around 210,000 people. That's the total number of youth in this country and 40% of them are unemployed.
Perhaps you may surmise it is the lack of jobs that is the problem. Not so. The problem is drugs: mostly brown sugar. 40% of the youth are jobless, aimlessly hanging around and the natural cycle ending in finding solace in drugs with the result crime rates soaring to unprecedented heights.
I blame 29 years of Gayyoom's rule and his brand of social engineering for the status-quo. The youth, if involved in politics represents the most dangerous segment of the society. Hence for the ruling elite their job would be much easier should this lot be kept sedated.
This was more or less my message to the Al-Jazeera TV viewing public.
It took exactly one month for members of the Maldives Police Services to raid my home without showing any form of identification or a warrant before they defied the sanctity of my home. They allege that they discovered 1.5 grams of heroin in my fist.
It was on June 5, 2007 that I was taken into police custody. I refused to give them a urine sample nor did I answer any of their questions. I wanted my legal rights before we proceeded with the investigation which I failed to get.
After 43 days in Male' Custodial I was released without any explanation.
The next day I took a flight to Colombo, spent 5 days unwinding and returned back to the Maldives.
All those days in jail I did little else but think and I had decided if I wished to continue working it was imperative I leave the country. Hence I decided to immigrate to Pakistan for a couple of years.
Having made my reservations earlier I went to the airport and checked in only to have my passport confiscated by the Immigrations and my luggage off-loaded from the plane.
No explanations were offered. The only information available was that the restriction order had come from the Department of Penitentiary. I checked with the Penitentiary Department and I was told that their computers failed to show I was under sentence. Perhaps had I been sentenced in absentia it may not show on the computer, we were told.
I went down to the criminal court, checked the bulletin board of those sentenced in absentia and failed to find my name on the list.
Still not satisfied, I called a friend at the Attorney General's Office and was told that a disobedience to order case and drugs possession case were forwarded to the courts.
Back at the court, I insisted that the girl behind the computer look carefully and sure enough the computers in the court showed that I was sentenced for life in absentia. And they hadn't even bothered to send me a summons to attend court.
All this secrecy on the part of the government at first baffled me. Later I realized that I would not have had the chance to appeal the case in the High Court should 90 days expire. It would mean that I would have accepted the verdict of the lower court.
A neat trap but because of the passport issue, I hope to have at least obtained a fighting chance from being framed.
Considering the fact that the population of the Maldives is around 300,000 people, 70% of them are under 35 years of age. It works to around 210,000 people. That's the total number of youth in this country and 40% of them are unemployed.
Perhaps you may surmise it is the lack of jobs that is the problem. Not so. The problem is drugs: mostly brown sugar. 40% of the youth are jobless, aimlessly hanging around and the natural cycle ending in finding solace in drugs with the result crime rates soaring to unprecedented heights.
I blame 29 years of Gayyoom's rule and his brand of social engineering for the status-quo. The youth, if involved in politics represents the most dangerous segment of the society. Hence for the ruling elite their job would be much easier should this lot be kept sedated.
This was more or less my message to the Al-Jazeera TV viewing public.
It took exactly one month for members of the Maldives Police Services to raid my home without showing any form of identification or a warrant before they defied the sanctity of my home. They allege that they discovered 1.5 grams of heroin in my fist.
It was on June 5, 2007 that I was taken into police custody. I refused to give them a urine sample nor did I answer any of their questions. I wanted my legal rights before we proceeded with the investigation which I failed to get.
After 43 days in Male' Custodial I was released without any explanation.
The next day I took a flight to Colombo, spent 5 days unwinding and returned back to the Maldives.
All those days in jail I did little else but think and I had decided if I wished to continue working it was imperative I leave the country. Hence I decided to immigrate to Pakistan for a couple of years.
Having made my reservations earlier I went to the airport and checked in only to have my passport confiscated by the Immigrations and my luggage off-loaded from the plane.
No explanations were offered. The only information available was that the restriction order had come from the Department of Penitentiary. I checked with the Penitentiary Department and I was told that their computers failed to show I was under sentence. Perhaps had I been sentenced in absentia it may not show on the computer, we were told.
I went down to the criminal court, checked the bulletin board of those sentenced in absentia and failed to find my name on the list.
Still not satisfied, I called a friend at the Attorney General's Office and was told that a disobedience to order case and drugs possession case were forwarded to the courts.
Back at the court, I insisted that the girl behind the computer look carefully and sure enough the computers in the court showed that I was sentenced for life in absentia. And they hadn't even bothered to send me a summons to attend court.
All this secrecy on the part of the government at first baffled me. Later I realized that I would not have had the chance to appeal the case in the High Court should 90 days expire. It would mean that I would have accepted the verdict of the lower court.
A neat trap but because of the passport issue, I hope to have at least obtained a fighting chance from being framed.
By Ali Rasheed, 17 October 2007
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