Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the Maldivian consulate in Trivandrum, India had worked tirelessly to bring a solution for the case where a Maldivian father is struggling to bring his three children back to the Maldives from India.
A statement released by the Ministry on Monday said that the Ministry had provided assistance to two Maldivian families in India and Bangladesh.
The statement came after RaajjeTV aired a documentary on the plight of a father, Abdulla Basheer, on a pursuit to bring his three daughters back home, after their mother- an Indian- took them to India with her, placing them in an orphanage over a year ago, under the pretense that their father had passed away.
Basheer and his father Naeem submitted the case to all relevant institutions. They sought help from the Ministry of Gender and Family, Maldives Police Service, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, telling them that three Maldivians were being kept at an orphanage.
RaajjeTV has procured a document, allegedly the one Basheer was forced to sign at the Consulate office. It has neither the letterheads or the signatures indicative of an official state document. Such a document must have a state-emblem, as well as the name and signature of the individual who headed the investigation. Basheer and Naeem believe that they had been tricked by the Consulate office as well.
The Ministry also said they had extended help to the family of the deceased Maldivian in Bangladesh.
The statement noted that the Ministry placed highest importance on providing consular services to Maldivians outside of Maldives.