Parliament declares that India-Maldives agreements won’t threaten independence

Parliament, on Monday, has declared that the agreements made between Maldives and India will not threaten the independence and sovereignty.

The report was passed with the vote of 53 parliamentarians. Only six parliamentarians voted against the report.

A case was submitted to the Parliament’s Committee on National Security Services (241 Committee) to review the agreements made between the Government of Maldives and India. Following their probe into the case, the Committee also declared that there were no alarming provisions.

During the Committee’s probe, they had reviewed three agreements that were made with India. They include the hydrography agreement made regarding the drawing the charts of the ocean, the agreement regarding the operations of dornier aircraft donated to Maldives by India and the agreement made between the Maldivian and Indian military to develop Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) base.

In the report formulated by the Committee following their probe, they said to have taken no note of any provisions which may threaten the independence and the sovereignty of Maldives in the agreements – adding that if the provisions in the agreements are fully implemented, it would be extremely beneficial to Maldives and its people.

Amendments proposed by opposition not passed

The opposition coalition had proposed three amendments to the report formulated by the Committee.

PNC’s Vice President, Maduvvari MP Adam Shareef proposed that government policies be changed so that foreign military personnel cannot permanently remain in the Maldives.

He also proposed two additional recommendations to what was stipulated in the Committee’s report. That is for the Committee to be provided copies of the agreements and review it again and for the Committee to probe into the losses that may be incurred due to the agreements.

However, these amendments were not passed by the Parliament. Only opposition coalition members had voted for these amendments.