Now, on Sunday night, fisheries minister Dr Mohamed Shainee handled Nasheed’s transfer back to Maafushi prison as, once again, the acting home minister. In neither of these instances did the actual home minister, Umar Naseer, play a role. The question: is it a coincidence that Umar happens to be out of the country every time there is a transfer of Nasheed between the south Kaaf atoll island jail and the capital Male? When Nasheed was at first put under house arrest just for three days, Umar was not there; at the time, on June 21, when Nasheed was required to undergo medical tests, Umar happened to be in Singapore on official business. Adeeb oversaw Nasheed’s shuttling between Male and Maafushi. When a doctor at the private ADK Hospital advised Nasheed to be placed for two months in a “stress free environment”, which resulted in the former president being confined to his wife Laila Ali’s residence, Umar still had not returned -- and Adeeb was still filling in Umar’s portfolio temporarily. Umar was also out of the country when Nasheed, after his eight weeks were up, was abruptly whisked back to Maafushi prison on Sunday night. Umar said that he had to go to Singapore again on an official errand. He returned Maldives on Monday night -- after Nasheed was finally settled back behind Maafushi’s bars. This time around, Shainee put on Umar’s ministerial shoes. It begs the question again: is it a coincidence that Umar was absent once more? Or is it a deliberate attempt by Umar to go into “hiding”? Or is it that, the government is sidelining Umar in matters related to Nasheed? Does this amount to a revoking of Umar’s authority to command Maldives Police Service (MPS)? Rumors do surface regularly that Umar’s Cabinet post in President Abdulla Yameen’s administration is about to be put to an end. Umar told Haveeru that it was a “coincidence that he is required to be out of Maldives every time there arise issues pertaining to Nasheed’s incarceration” and that his absence was “always on official matters”. Umar said that he will not shy away from confronting any issues to do with Nasheed. “Anyone who is acquainted with me will know that I do not flee from serious challenges. If there are major matters, I always try to get engaged in them. There were times when I cut short foreign visits and returned Male due to [opposition] protests. Therefore, I am not shirking from anything. There is nothing that I dare not face. I have never chickened out of any issue of concern,” said Umar, who was the government’s leading delegate at the conciliatory talks between the government and Nasheed’s main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) after the turbulent May Day opposition demonstrations. Whether it is a coincidence or not, or whether there are hidden goings-on or not, many Maldivians noticed and took note of the fact of Umar’s glaring absence during Nasheed’s concessionary transfer to house arrest and the later withdrawal of such a compromise by putting him back in jail.