SAARC Summit Monuments to be removed

The Addu City Council has decided to remove the five remaining monuments put up in Addu City for the SAARC Summit.

Mayor of Addu City Abdulla Sodiq said today that the decision to remove the monuments was made last week. This decision comes following Police advice that the organisation of police patrol of the City will benefit, if the ten Officers currently guarding the monuments can be freed up.

“It has been decided to remove the monuments because it hinders Police efforts to reduce crime in the island. Crimes such as theft, assault and snatching are on the rise in the island,” Sodiq said.

The Mayor of Addu said that discussions are ongoing about placing the monuments at the Equatorial Convention Centre. No decision has been made so far.

Sodiq further said that the five monuments which remain are two which were placed by Maldives which include one representing a dragonfly in Feydhoo and another representing a book and a pen in Hulhumeedhoo, plus three others placed by Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.

The government was criticized for placing some of these monuments which symbolise idols, claiming the spread of anti-Islamic sentiment in the country.

Sodiq said, however, that the issue of the monuments was raised at the protest held in Male’ for political reasons. He also noted that nobody complains about the monument at the entrance of the Indian High Commission in Male’, which represent three lions.

“I do not believe that the positioning of these monuments in Addu City is a reason for complain. The Islamic Ministry has not said that these monuments are anti-Islam. A similar monument stands at the entrance of the Indian High Commission in Male’ – if that is not a representation of idol worshipping, then neither is the one placed in Addu,” Sodiq said.

The monument placed in Addu City by Pakistan was destroyed in an act of vandalism, while the one placed by Nepal was stolen. The monument placed by Afghanistan was also vandalized, prompting the removal of Bhutan’s monument by the the City Council.