Islamic Minister faces possible no-confidence vote

Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Haleem (Dhonbileh), a MDP parliamentarian, has announced his intention of submitting a motion to impeach Islamic Minister Dr. Ahmed Zahir Ali as soon as the Parliament re-convenes after recess.

Dhonbileh told Sun on Tuesday that he had already begun lobbying support to oust Dr. Ahmed Zahir, who he accused of supporting religious extremism.

“The main reason I’m submitting this motion is because the Islamic Minister has been taking action against upstanding local sheikhs who are working to counter extremism to fulfill a personal vendetta,” said Dhonbileh.

He said that the move by the Islamic Ministry to initiate a probe into the recent press conference held by Makthaba Salafiyya – an organization of local religious scholars – was evidence the Islamic Minister himself supported religious extremism.

“I believe the Islamic Minister is supporting religious extremism in Maldives. I’m seeking a no-confidence vote because of this. This is not the party stand. Neither is this the government stand. This is the stand of the parliamentary representative of Bilehdhoo,” said Dhonbileh.

He said that he planned on submitting the motion as soon as the Parliament re-convened for its next session.

Makthaba Salafiyya – led by Sheikh Mohamed Hassan – whose license to preach had been suspended for allegedly addressing topics disputed among scholars in a manner which exposed the community to division and strife - had held the press conference in question on Saturday, December 21.

Sheikh Mohamed Hassan, at the press conference, denied accusations of religious extremism against him. He said that he had always worked to counter religious extremism, but accused several other prominent scholars of promoting religious extremism and terrorism with the aid of a presentation made using some of their social media posts.