Maldives museum reopens after vandalism

A mob of suspected religious extremists may have damaged some of the Maldives national museum’s most precious works, but they haven’t stopped it altogether. The museum reopened this week after 35 exhibits, which were mostly Buddhist and Hindu, were destroyed.

Museum director Ali Waheed was reported by Associated Press saying that 99 per cent of the pre-Islamic artefacts housed by the museum had been destroyed, some of which dated back to the sixth century.

"Some of the pieces can be put together but mostly they are made of sandstone, coral and limestone, and they are reduced to powder," he told the Associated Press.

"We are very sad. This is the physical and archaeological evidence of the country, we have nothing to show (of the pre-Islamic history)," Waheed said.

The suspected extremists are reported to have attacked during the country’s unravelling political stability. Over the past seven weeks protest have been rife and last week President Mohammed Nasheed stepped down, although according to some reports he was forced to resign at gunpoint.

This news is not business as usual for a country that is widely known as a popular tourist destination popular with honeymooners.

However, despite its paradisiacal reputation, the Maldives has a strict constitution preventing the practice of any religion other than Islam and pressure has been mounting to implement more conservative Muslim policies.

The items that were destroyed have been preserved since the opening of the museum in 1952.

Last year a monument given by Pakistan to mark a South Asian summit featuring an image of Buddha on it was also destroyed by a mob.

Police spokesman Ahmed Shyam said investigations are ongoing into the museum vandalism but as yet no one has been arrested.