Nazil claims Addu residents’ situation ‘same as Palestinians’

The current situation of the residents of Addu is the same as that of the Palestinian people, says Ibrahim Nazil, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s top lawmaker.

Nazil, the parliamentary representative for South Hithadhoo constituency, made the remark on Wednesday morning, during the debate on his emergency motion over frequent power outages in Addu City.

In his motion, Nazil likened the frequent power outages in Addu, the country’s second most populous city, to “flashing lights.” He said that it was disrupting the lives of the people of Addu, and hindering the provision of services by offices and institutions.

He accused the administration of failing to properly address the issue in its seven months in office.

Nazil went on to say that “the residents of Addu are in the same situation as the Palestinian people.”

The comment sparked condemnation from lawmakers from the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).

Gan MP Yoosuf Nasheed said that there aren’t any people anywhere in the world suffering as much as the Palestinian people.

“There aren’t any people anywhere in the world suffering on the scale of the Palestinian people. The residents of Addu and the Palestinian people cannot be compared even as an example. When you take Palestine’s example, who was it that destroyed Palestine? It was Israel that destroyed Palestine,” he said.

Israel’s devastating attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed over 39,000 people, many of them women and children. It has also left over 90,000 people injured.

Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”.