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Minicoy Island or Maliku is the only inhabited island of the Maliku Atoll. It is the second largest and the southern-most among the islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago, measuring about 10 km from its northern end to its southernmost point. Minicoy is a long island, almost completely covered with coconut trees.
The locals, the Malikun, call their island "Maliku," as do the Maldivians, while it is called "Minikkoy" in Malayalam. On the southern side of the main island lies the uninhabited islet of Viringili where formerly the lepers of Minicoy were banished.
This atoll is administered by India under the Indian Union Territory of Lakshadweep. The closest island to Minicoy is Thuraakunu in the Republic of Maldives. Since 1956, the Indian Government has forbidden contact between people of the two islands despite their geographic proximity and ethnographic similarities. Minicoy Islanders, like the close islands of the Maldives follow Sunni Islam. The islands were probably Buddhist before like they were in the Maldives.
Today Maliku is administered by India, but claimed by the Maldives. This claim was made in 1983, when the President of Maldives made a public speech claiming Maliku for the Maldives. Even today many Maldivians privately harbour such sentiments. At the same time India is overly cautious of any contact between people of Maliku and its Maldivian neighbours to the south.
An oral tradition of the Maldives (according to the late Magieduruge Ibrahim Didi, a Maldivian learned man) explains why Minicoy is not politically part of the Maldives anymore: Some time in the past (perhaps during the 17th century), Minicoy was devastated by a great cyclone which destroyed most houses and a great number of coconut trees. Following the catastrophe, a delegation of Minicoy islanders from the best families in the island sailed to the King in Male' asking for gold to help them through the hard times. However, the Maldive King told them that he had not enough money in his treasury and that he was not able to help them. Hence the delegation of Maliku nobles went onwards to the Malabar coast, where they found favor with the king of Cannanore (Kannur) who welcomed them and helped the Minicoy people to rebuild their island in exchange for their loyalty. Henceforth the Minicoy Islanders owed allegiance to this kingdom of the SW Indian shore.
Today, Maliku has a combined population of 9,500.
Under the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Laws) Regulations, 1967 of the Government of India, Maldivian nationals can only visit Maliku if they are permitted by the High Commissioner of India. The High Commissioner of India in Malé shall intimate the names of the persons whose visits are permitted and the period of their stay to the Administrator of Lakshadweep sufficiently in advance. The Administrator may, on valid grounds, extend the period of stay of Maldivain nationals.
Indian government should leave its selfish agenda with the people of Malik and the island should be open to the world. Her people deserver freedom and prosperity instead of containment and abuse of their rights. The people of Malik has every right to contact and interact with Maldives for some ground reasons that we should not forget. They speak Dhivehi language and they are our brothers.
ReplyDeleteCopied from internet sources. Nothing new here. Maybe some mistakes, as I haven't read anywhere before that the president made such a claim. (President's brother maybe but not the president). And to my knowledge, there is no such claim now (so this blog article is of not much use - that sentimental..privately harbor part was mentioned somewhere in the web way back in 2001/2002).
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
It is they [Minikkoyans] who decided to show allegiance to India. So let them be as they are...
We best worry about our islands first.
Wikipedia mentions it was the president who made the claim:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicoy_Island
Here is one of the links of which I mentioned above:
http://www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/minicoy_not_maldives.shtml
Quote:
On 26 July 1982, a minister of the Maldive regime, a brother of the Maldive President who is still in power since before then, made a public speech claiming Minicoy for the Maldives. That precipitated a diplomatic crisis.
:End Quote.
Someone needs to check the records to end this confusion. The latter link I gave even shows the date. I think I will rely on the old information unless disputed.
Could someone who knows better correct the record!
yeah people of maldives could know
DeleteMaliku island or Minicoy would soon become part of Maldives. Its quite simple.
ReplyDeleteJust dispatch State foreign Minister Naseem for the talks with India..
Anonymous 23:33.. Actually more likely if you dispatch the State Forign Minister, Maldives will become part of India soon...
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note.. actually the claim was made..and gayyoom was there at the meeting when the statement was made .. not sure if it can be taken as a claim.. Immediately after that incident, an indian newpaper had a cartoon of an Indian woman (presumably depicting Indira Gandi with Gayyoom in his hand and blowing him away)..
I still have my family people in Maliku and i love indian cinema.
ReplyDeleteIn travindrum, you will see dhivehi sign boards and most of them already speak and understand dhivehi very well. I think for Maldivian film industry to make money, the best thing to do is to get a good huge audience from travindrum. (If you make good quality films)
It might work!... anyway thats not the point.
Maliku doesnt have to be a sunni muslim coutry. I am happy for them that they dont have religious restrictions.
history says that those people are under maldivian kingdome long ago. but face the fact it is not ours now. we have no right to fight back to make them ours, its maliku peoples' own right.
ReplyDeleteLol.. this is crazy, is maliku going to be the 2nd kashmir
ReplyDeleteBushy, why dont you become the Governor of Minicoy "Maliku" Mr President cant easily announce that. then you can claim Minicoy belongs to Maldives and then visit India for negotiations. ITS THAT SIMPLE
ReplyDeleteLOL... DO WE REALLY WANT ANOTHER 10000 MOUTHS TO FEED WHILE COUNTRY CANT FEED THE EXISTING, MAYBE WE GO AND ASK INDIA FOR ANOTHER 400 MILLION DOLLARS....LOL
bandaara.com gai oiy dr shaheed ge aa hassan adhi jameel aa behey article kiyaaleema,dr shaheed ge menge maqsad saafu vaan fashaifi. maumoon ah dhin landu p nasheed ah dheyn raavain fashaifi. bunan vaahaka eh, thiya vaththarah ulhen fesheemaa, meehun nah beyzaaru vanee, maa molhuvaane, madu huriyyaa, eirun ithubaaru kueveyne. ekamaku dhen hassan men nakah ithubaaru eh niy.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 05:36: Very good point.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 00:39: What's that/they got to do with this topic?
8/3/09 01:20 no need to write things about same topic. any way, it has not been always.
ReplyDeletei dont y u people r debating with this topic..i am from minicoy ..of my knowledge one is bothered about maldives its just another country..we r indians and will be indians..jai hind
ReplyDeletei dont y u people r debating with this topic..i am from minicoy ..of my knowledge no one is bothered about maldives its just another country..we r indians and will be indians..jai hind..hope this clarifies your doubhts
ReplyDeleteJAI HIND...JAI HIND...JAI HIND
ReplyDeleteDO NOT EVEN LOOK AT MINICOY WITH THIS IN MIND, WE ARE MIGHTY INDIANS, WE WILL CRUSH YOU.
YOU GUYS SURVIVE BECAUSE OF US, AND YOU DARE TALK LIKE THIS?
JAI HIND...JAI HAIND
im frm malik and i have good feelings for my country maldives. we ar not indians we are maldivians we shal always be maldivians.
ReplyDeletewww.namaadhu.tk
ReplyDeletePretty soon from what ANni is doing we will all be indians...Maldives will be the next union territory.
ReplyDeleteMalik people are indians of Dhivehi origin. If they feel shameful about it, just let it be.
ReplyDeletepls, think twice. your culture religion are same as Maldivian. we will be very happy if you join with us, i mean maldivian. wats is the benefit you are getiing under indian government. we are same, Maliku and Maldivian. May allah show the day Maldives and Maliku are united and one country.
ReplyDeletepls pls any one frm Maliku, let me knw abt ur tradition culture and practice, pls give me ur mail add i like to chat. my mail address is azambey@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteYes, they're part of us.. Our brothers & sisters.. But please don't interfere our relations with India.. Indians are good people, we respect them.. Mohamed Bushry don't play with international affairs, you're playing a dangerous game.. May Allah the Almighty bless Maliku & their people..
ReplyDeletethey may not be Maldivians politically, but they surely are culturally. It belongs to Maldives. Even India admits this. otherwise why are they afraid of contact between Maldivians and Maliku people? Its a shame that the king refused to help. Maldivians are kind hearted people. They will accept you any day with open arms. Just try Trivandrum and Male', which place you feel home at more?
ReplyDeleteAbdulla
maliku is not a part of maldives.. they are indians. we are maldivians. whats the problem here.. maliku people talks like us.. thats their own language..
ReplyDeleteHI ALL MALIKU PEOPLE.... I RESPECT U.. I LOVE U.. I LIKE TO GO AND SEE MALIKU.. I NEED SOME FRIENDS , BROTHERS AND SISTERS FROM MALIKU.. CAN ANYONE FROM MALIKU REPLYME?? PLS......
my mail id is: m_haikal-a@hotmail.com
anyone from maliku can talk me..
sorry i mentioned Pakistan, they are our brothers for life. for some unfortunate reason, (may be its because the world is unfair with them) have become "terrorists"
ReplyDeleteHey you people dont bothered or interfear about us we are Indians and we are proud of being....
ReplyDeleteI am a true Maliku person.............. Our family still talks to plenty of ppl from Maldives. They dont catch us when we go in our boat to maldives.... actually my uncle is from thuraakunu, and my auntie from maliku... and my cousins look... just like me. They have learned that Mahl is just like Dhivehi in many ways!!! very similar.
ReplyDeleteI m from Maldives.Malikaddu(Maliku and Addu) was the territory of the Maldivian king.Pakistan was part of Hindustan.
ReplyDeleteWe should not fight each other.India is our big brother.We like India.As you know we all are going to sink in few years time.No minicoy no maldives.Brothers and sisters lets help each other.
asslam alaikum....im a minicoy girl,doing my gradutin in mainland.i didn,t understood that y we both the people from malidives & minicoyians..r getting interferring..i think our maliku people doesnt have any personal problem with maledivens..even we r looking them as a part of us like brothers & sisters..just other peoples r making rumors about us...i request personally to those people who ever might be,please to stop these,becouse as far we respect the poeple of maledives,,& more over maliku people is living a peace ful life,,so please leave us alone,,with what us people are...& about our country ,we r the people of india,,,so in future we will be recognise as indians,,even though we keep a good relation ship with maledivens,as a muslims too we the maliku people has not yet problem with terriosts too becouse we have not interfear with that,,,with a positive answer by fousiyaff(minicoy)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the history goes, Maliku was never a part of Maldives. Even though we share some common features, like the language and the culture, Maliku shares a more favorable feature line with India. Maliku was always too far to brush by the Maldivian Administration then with very limited resources. Thats how the world was then. So lets just leave the Maliku people where they wanna be and lets start concentrating on what we already have than act goat. We have enuf headaches on what we already have than to claim what could have been ours. Peace
ReplyDeletesooooooooo wat ever ur name is which history as u learned? if u go to National library in capital Male' of maldives u will get to knw rhe real history
DeleteThough, the late Magieduruge Ibrahim Didi, is a Maldivian learned man. His story was fake and has no historical evidence. When the came to beg who was the king. Why the late Ibrahim Didi could not give the name of king.Maldives has lost its political power on maliku in mid 16th century, during the fight between Maldivian Kingdom and "Malabari" kingdom in Malabar cost india. During the time, Kolhathari Kingdom had dominated in the Kerala Cost. After that, in 1956 British had involved in passing Maliku to India.For more information, Bushry and others may follow http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Minicoy-Island.
ReplyDeleteSo, don't say anything to make complicate than what it was.
i would love to visit malik/minicoy very very much. but i heard it wasnt allowed? would we get punished or anything?
ReplyDeleteand regarding this topic, i would like to say that, it doesnt matter whether minicoy is a part of maldives or india. its not about being on sides. its the fact that they're here and they're our neighbours. its not about being indian or maldivian or minicoyian. its about being human. we're all the same. thats what i believe. and i believe we best learn to live together, and release this personal grudge that our ancestors have feasted on.
i read about minicoy alot, and i find its a very peacefull and interesting homely island. i would really really love to visit there someday.
As far as i know an agreement was signed by the government of maldives in 1976 which was ratified in 1978 wherein it agreed to maritime boundaries according to which Minicoy fell on the side of india.this is apart from the fact that the minicoyans in the 1956 referundum decided to join.The matter is fully and finally settled.We need to find out who are these people trying to create rift between the people of Maldives and India (as well as Minicoy)who enjoy such friendly and good neighbourly relations?We whould try and work out to resolve the differences and strengthen the friendship.It is possible!
ReplyDeleteI think we Maldivans have already lost our world renowned culture and friendliness and its only the people of Minicoy who are still holding on to it and maintaining it. Funny that their age old culture had no effect fron Indian Hindu culture and also india is not forcing them to change it. So why bother we claim Minicoy back to Maldives? There lives would be better with India.
ReplyDelete???????? how we travel to maliku from maldives or india???????????
ReplyDeletehi there
ReplyDeletecan anyone let me knw if it is possible for me to travel to maliku? and if so the procedurers or watever to follow.
I am learning a lot about my own country tonite n i want to go to maliku :)
it would be awesome
i am from maldives. i neet friends from maliku. if any 1 from maliku want finf a friend from maldives, mail me my email schaam.colonel@gmail.com
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ReplyDeletei just want see their way of live. it is up to them to decide whether they want be part of India or Maldives. if they choose us, Most welcome brothers and sisters. My love might be there..lol
ReplyDeletemaliku kudhin nah dhivehi egey dho.... alhugandu beynun chuhtee heydha kohlan maliku ah dhaan.. hotel information fonuvidhaanetha...
ReplyDeleteMaliku is a part of Maldives. The truth is that selfish indians captured Maliku just like they captured Kashmir from Pakistan . I m from Dubai but i believe in the truth and wat i wrote above is the universal truth . I knw for indians it is hard , difficult to digest but indians should know truth is bitter as they r the ones who is saying the quote " Truth is bitter"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWE MAY NOT BE THE RICHEST COUNTRY BUT NONE OF OUR KID DIES CUX OF MALNUTRITION, HUNGER OR STARVATION........SHAME ON INDIA THEY CANT FULLFILL THE NEEDS OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE
ReplyDeleteY u want be a Indian .../ soon they are going to be the most highest populated country in the world soon...and they cannot fulfill there self.....
ReplyDeleteBy the way i totally agree with the anonymous 14/6/13 as he or she is telling the truth.... i would also like to say now india is trying to capture tibet from china orgin
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