(Source)

MALE, December 4 (HNS) – Maldives Ambassador to the United States Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed and US officials discussed promoting educational partnerships between the two countries in order to offer an alternative to Maldivian students going to Islamic schools in Pakistan and Egypt, leaked US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks showed Friday.

A US State Department cable marked “secret” and dated February 26, 2010 quotes Ghafoor as saying that Maldivian students who currently go to Islamic schools in Pakistan and Egypt end up being radicalised.

Ghafoor also noted that Egypt and Pakistan offer free education in Islamic Studies for young Maldivians. However, when asked by the US officials if all the students return to the Maldives after their studies, he said some had been apprehended in round ups in Pakistan, where extremists had recruited them.

Increased access to “liberal western education” would help to combat growing fundamentalist trends in the Maldives, he suggested, adding, “It used to be simply a question of faith; now you must show that you are more Muslim than others.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake suggested Ghafoor reach out to US schools and offered assistance to help build public-private partnerships, such as, for example, a college in the hotel and restaurant management field, the diplomatic missive says.

The leaked cable shows that Ghafoor met US officials in Washington ahead of his presentation of credentials on February 24, where he assured the US government that he would prioritise developing education and parliamentary exchanges during his ambassadorship and confirmed that the Maldives government is willing to take a Guantanamo Bay detainee.

According to the cable, the Maldives Ambassador appreciated US efforts to help push International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Maldives toward an agreement, but said the conditionality was “harsh.” Wage cuts have been politically difficult, he told the US officials, stressing that international assistance would help the Maldives government win over the public and implement its development program.

WikiLeaks is unleashing over 250,000 confidential US missives detailing a wide array of potentially explosive diplomatic episodes. In the coming weeks, the whistleblower website is expected to release 3325 documents from the US Embassy in Colombo, out of which over 150 documents relate to the Maldives.

Ghafoor also sought US security assistance including additional equipment and training from the US on customs and border security in confronting attacks through the sea such as by Somali pirates, which he described, could cripple the country’s economy.

NY Times last week cited another leaked diplomatic cable as saying that Maldives tied acceptance of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to US help in obtaining IMF assistance. The cable shows that US officials told Maldives that other states received US$25,000-US$85,000 per detainee to cover “temporary living expenses and other costs.”

The Maldives government, however, denied the report, saying the claim might have been by “mistake.”

A luxury resort in the Maldives has sparked outrage after a video appeared on You Tube showing members of staff abusing and mocking their guests using a language they were unable to understand.
Employees at the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa resort can be seen calling an English-speaking couple ‘infidel’ and ‘swine’ and calling their guests’ marriage illegal in their native Dhivehi tongue throughout the 15-minute wedding ceremony.
According to the Maldive news service Minivan News, the video which was uploaded to You Tube ‘as a joke’ shows an employee named Hussein Didi conducting a service as a ‘celebrant’ – a person who is empowered to perform a religious ceremony. (Read it all)

Robert Spencer offers context:

Maldives: Non-Muslim, Western couple mocked by Muslim “minister” as “infidels” and “swine” at their wedding
Where would he get that sort of thing? Well, the Qur’an, which calls unbelievers the “vilest of creatures” (98:6), and even portrays them as apes and swine (2:63-66, 5:59-60, 7:166). “Unwitting Western couple mocked as ‘infidel’ and ‘swine’ by ‘minister’ during foreign language wedding ceremony at luxury Maldives resort,” from the Daily Mail, October 29 (thanks to JW)

“For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

* The more than 300,000 citizens of the Maldives are all Sunni Muslims

All doomed to eternity to the islamic paradise (Hell), along with allah and Mo.

Students mistake teachers drawing of compass for cross, fanatical frenzy ensues:

It’s very agonizing to note the rate of victimization and discrimination Christians are going through in the hands of authorities in Maldives with the news of the expulsion of one expatriate Christian teacher from the country recently.Compass Direct News (CDN) (http://www.compassdirect.org) reports that the authorities had to transport a Christian teacher, Ms Geethamma George from India off one of the Islamic nation’s islands after Muslim parents of her students threatened to expel her for “preaching Christianity.” It noted that on Sept. 29 a group of angry Muslim parents stormed the government school on the island of Foakaindhoo, in Shaviyani Atoll, accusing George of drawing a cross in her class.“There were only 10 teachers to defend George when a huge crowd gathered outside the school. Numerous local residents of the island also joined the parents’ protest. The school administration promptly sought the help of officials from the education ministry,” it stated. It continued: “Fearing that the teacher would be physically attacked, the officials took her out of the island right away. She will never be able to come back to the island, and nor is she willing to do so. She will be given a job in another island.”CDN said that a few days earlier, George, a social studies teacher, had drawn a compass to teach directions to Class VI students. But the students, who knew little English, mistook the drawing to be a cross and thought she was trying to preach Christianity adding that the students complained to their parents, who in turn issued a warning to the school. It noted that the school administrators set up a committee to investigate the allegation and called for a meeting with parents on to present their findings. The committee found that George had drawn a compass as part of a geography lesson. “However, the parents arrived the previous night to settle the matter outside the school.”It observed that the authorities transferred George to the nearby island of Funadhoo after the parents threatened to tie and drag her off of the island adding that the teacher, who worked at the school for three years, is originally from the south Indian coastal state of Kerala. “Many Christians from Kerala and neighboring Tamil Nadu state in India are working as teachers and doctors in the Maldives.”“Preaching or practicing a non-Muslim faith is forbidden under Maldivian law, which does not recognize any faith other than Islam. The more than 300,000 citizens of the Maldives are all Sunni Muslims,” CDN added.

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