President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has asserted that Islam will prevail in the Maldives and that opportunities will not be permitted to create unrest among the people and disrupt national peace.
Speaking to residents of Hulhudheli island in Dhaalu atoll on Wednesday as part of the President’s visit to honor the atoll’s Golden Jubilee for health services, Solih said that the government prioritizes maintaining national peace and harmony.
This, he said is vital to the country’s development.
Stressing that the biggest responsibility of the government is to maintain peace, Solih stated that the government will bring an end to calls and protests that churn unrest and urge violence and that the government will not give even the slightest chance for such matters to surface.
Highlighting that Islam will prevail in the country, Solih said that mockery of the religion, ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and tarnishing Islamic tenets will not be tolerated, in any way.
“We will not get in the way of independence guaranteed the people under the constitution, however, we will stop calls urging and promoting violence. We will not give the chance to ridicule Islamic tenets and mock the Prophet”.President Solih.
Further, he said that the government will not allow acts that churn enmity among the people in the name of Islam.
Highlighting that the amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act have been ratified, Solih stressed that he does not believe that Maldivians should join the Syrian war, as they are affiliated with terrorism.
He assured the people that those carrying extremist ideologies will be sought out and measures will be taken against them, which is the government’s responsibility under the Maldives constitution which urges appropriate measures to be taken to ensure religious unity.
Earlier in October, a motion regarding mockery of Islam was submitted to the Parliament floor by MP for Nolhivaram constituency, Mohamed Nasheed Abdulla.
Initially, two motions were submitted to parliament regarding MDN’s “Preliminary Assessment of Radicalization in Maldives” report.
A case against the report was filed at Maldives Police Service (MPS) earlier following which they revealed that its investigations have been highly prioritized. Police further revealed that everyone behind the report “will be held accountable”.
MDN’s report was published years ago and they have since, very recently apologized for the language used in it after coming under fire from public scrutiny.
