A motion has been submitted to the Parliament of the Maldives by Member of Parliament (MP) Mohamed Waheed to establish a special counter-extremism taskforce in collaboration with the security services and relevant authorities.
The motion which states that the Government of the Maldives needs to stop the spread of ever-increasing extremism, noting that the Maldives Police Service revealed that there are 1,400 extremists in the country who are willing to commit violent acts.
The motion called on authorities to step up actions to stop the spread of extremism and for the security services to take immediate action against individuals who are included in the list of known extremists. It stated that the relevant authorities are currently at a disadvantage when it comes to stopping extremism and therefore the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and Police should work with the relevant authorities to establish a special counter-extremism taskforce.
Furthermore, the motion called on the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to step up efforts to monitor and determine whether religious teachings in the Maldives are in accordance with the consensus of renowned religious scholars.