Taking the veil off is not the solution – Dr. Hassan

20 October 2007
Report: Soodh


Former Attorney General Dr. Hassan Saeed has said that the evils our society cannot be solved by taking the face veil off. He said this while speaking to Velidhoo News.

Dr. Hassan Saeed who served the government as Attorney General for over 2 years said that first a remedy for the disease has to be obtained and that to obtain a remedy the disease has to be identified. He said efforts to tackle other issues will not be successful without first curing the disease

“Was the detonation at Sultan Park carried out by persons wearing face veil, No, the person believed to have detonated the device did not obtain education at a specific country, first we have to identify the actual problem, we have to remedy that problem, even if everybody in Maldives were to take their face veil off it wouldn’t be solution, actual problem has to be identified and evaluated, Maumoon’s report gives priority to analyzing, how it spread within our society, which groups of our society is involved in it” says Former Attorney General who submitted his resignation in last August.

Most of the undesirable issues occurring in our society are due to the frivolity in enforcement of the Laws and Regulations said Dr. Hassan Saeed. He also said the government‘s failure to study the population growth, especially the youth population and its failure in formulating polices with due consideration is also a contributing factor. In this regard he noted the lack of job opportunities for a large number of school leavers and drop outs including a large number of youths. He also noted the population congestion caused by lack of housing as a contributing factor. Former Attorney General also highlighted the fact during his tenure with government considerable effort was made to resolve these issues.
“When I was in office, I have organized awareness programs for our young people on the Constitution, I have printed and distributed text books for nearly 14,000 students across the country, I have conducted courses on how to keep away from crime, what would happen if involved in drugs, what is theft, I believe I have done a lot of work in increasing awareness of younger generation as never before in our history” said Hassan Saeed.

Dr. Hassan Saeed said that he doesn’t believe any of the Ministers who offered advise on Himandhoo case visited the island, what we see is the result of trying to solve the issue without first knowing the problem.

On explaining the factors that led to this situation Dr. Hassan said that sudden gain in freedom that were previously denied, the widening of freedom of speech, and the introduction of political parties are all contributing factors.
“Until the day of the detonation it wasn’t an issue although on number of occasions officials of Himandhoo, residents and various other officials from that atoll were all complaining , even government ministers were also complaining but it wasn’t an issue, there was nobody who would listen, suddenly with the detonation it became a big issue, now I don’t see anybody taking responsibility for the Himandhoo issue, Atoll Chief and Atoll Minister on various occasion have informed the concerned authority in writing, action plans were prepared, many foreign newspapers had written about Himandhoo long before the incident , neighboring counties had identified Maldives as hotspot for extremists” elaborated Dr. Hassan Saeed.

Dr. Hassan Saeed further said that even though nobody took the responsibility for the Himandhoo case, somebody body is responsible for it and has to shoulder the responsibility. The issue reached its present state due to somebody’s failure notes Dr. Hassan Saeed.

Former Attorney General Dr. Hassan Saeed resigned from government last August but is still one the Deputy Leaders of the ruling DRP. However he has recently become increasingly critical of the government.