BHUBANESHWAR & NEW DELHI: A former Maldivian parliament member has accused the country’s current regime of promoting radical Islam in the island nation, saying this can become a “direct threat” to India.Ahmed Easa, a former Maldivian Democratic Party MP , said some members of President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s government have close links with drug trafficking gangs and that they are encouraging religious fundamentalism in the country, which is encouraging the country’s youth to come out in solidarity with the Islamic State (ISIS).Easa, who was arrested following a police crackdown on May Day anti-government protests in Male, is undergoing treatment in a Sri Lanka hospital for injuries allegedly suffered in the police action.“We had closer ties to Europe, which is the largest consumer of our tourism Industry,” Easa told ET over the phone from Sri Lanka. “But we have undeniable historical and cultural ties with India. And the growing drug and black money encourages rise of radical Islamism and this is a direct threat to India.”More than 20,000 people took to the streets on May 1, calling for the release of jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed and former defence minister Mohamed Nazim , whose arrests sparked the current political crisis in the country. According to opposition parties, the May Day demonstration was the largest anti-government protest in the country’s history.Before losing the 2013 elections, Nasheed had told the Indian media that “hundreds of Maldivians recruited by the Taliban are fighting in Pakistan”.“Several Maldivian leaders have studied in madrasas in Pakistan and some are even known to flaunt pictures of them with the Taliban,” Shirish Thorat, security and anti-terrorism expert closely tracking the rise of fundamentalism in Maldives , told ET. “More than 100 Maldivians are engaged in combat in Syria alone and many have died in combat.”At the Indian Ocean Maritime Conference in Bhubaneswar last March, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee RN Ravi had said that while there was no ISIS unit in the country, the concern about terrorist groups such as the ISIS and their influence over youth in the Indian Ocean Rim countries remained.“Two deputy leaders of the Maldives Development Alliance , a coalition partner of the Yameen government , who are ministers in the government, have family links with chief of religious group Jamiyya Salaf ,” Easa said.Easa, who is 37, said he was thrown into a police vehicle, pepper sprayed, and hit on the head and spine until he lost consciousness. “I was given a drop of water only 24 hours later, just before being taken to the magistrate. I was not able to address the judge standing and yet I was denied a painkiller for seven days,” the former trade union leader said.Easa said even though he told the police that he was being treated for a brain cist, he was allowed to consult a neurosurgeon only after he threatened to go on a hunger strike. It took authorities another three days to let him travel to Sri Lanka, he said.Meanwhile, trials of opposition Adhaalath Party and Jumhoory Party leaders are set to begin at the Male criminal court on Tuesday. These leaders are charged with inciting violence at the May 1 anti-government protests. If convicted, they face between 10 and 15 years in jail.In March, Nasheed was charged with terrorism over the detention of a judge during his tenure and sentenced to 13 years in prison.Last Sunday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had expressed concern over the deteriorating political situation in the Maldives.