A source close to former Maldivian President Ibrahim Nasir has said he is critically ill in the intensive care unit of Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
The 82-year-old former leader, exiled in Singapore since his presidency ended in 1978, has previously suffered kidney problems and the prospects of a recovery are “gloomy”, according to the source.
Ruler of the Maldives from 1968 to 1978, Nasir is credited with bringing about Maldivian independence. The country had previously been a British protectorate.
But he was criticised for a crackdown on a 1959 breakaway republic in the south of the country.
Nasir has been in retirement in Singapore since resigning the presidency in 1978. His family still has “hopes that he will recover,” according to the source, but his prospects of recovery are slim following several weeks in hospital.
Nasir – a descendant of one of the Maldivian royal families - first served as Prime Minister under Sultan Muhammad Fareed Didi from 1957 to 1968, before becoming first president of the second Maldivian republic in 1968.
He held office until declining to accept nomination by the parliament for another term in November 1978.
Some hail him as a national hero due to his involvement in deal which saw Maldives, previously a British protectorate, gain independence in 1965.
He is also credited with introducing the current school curriculum, modernising the fisheries industry and initiating tourism in Maldives, which now generates 30 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
However he faced criticism for use of authoritarian methods against opponents. As prime minister in 1962, Nasir sent a militia from the capital, Malé, to suppress islanders of Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo after they declared a breakaway state in the southern atolls.
In 1981, he was sentenced by President Gayoom in absentia for alleged corruption and planning a coup, but he was later pardoned.
But the source says Gayoom has not “created the conditions” under which Nasir could return to the Maldives, though he retains his Maldivian passport.
Source: minivannews.com
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