President Solih: Will not allow any room to impact independence

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih stated on Thursday that the government will not allow even the slightest room to impact Islam, the country’s independence, peace and sovereignty.  

He made these remarks while delivering the Presidential address to re-open the Parliament.

Recalling the terrorist attack on the former President and Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, he commanded the work done for the people by Nasheed on that day.

Moreover, the President stated that the events of that day revealed the extent to which extremism has spread in Maldives.

“Seeing the extent to which extremism has rooted within the society and the dangerous and harmful action done in the name of religion showed the vastness and difficulty of the work that needs to be done to bring a stop to it.”

He said that a campaign will be started this year with the help of religious scholars under the name ‘National Moderation Campaign’ to teach the true values of Islam to those who are trying to harm people’s lives and goods.

In his speech, the President made note of the work done in the past year to further promote Islam in the country. He stated that the government had given the highest priority to spread legitimate information about the religion to people and to instil the values of Islam in children.

“Under this, within the last year, work was done in 180 islands of the country to promote legitimate information about Islam and create awareness about the values of the religion.”

“290 people are undergoing training for their degrees as Imams and Muezzins. To build Quran teachers, training of 5,991 people has completed training last year.”

President Solih also assured that within this year, the law pertaining to hajj, umrah, waguf and zakat will be drafted and sent to the Parliament for approval within the year.

Additionally, he noted that the work to develop modern and new mosques all over the country will go on without any interruptions.