Galolhu Uthuru MP Eva Abdulla has said that the borders of Maldives cannot be protected with the use of massive weapons or further strengthening the military. Eva maintained that it is Maldives itself which will be disadvantaged by such an approach. She said that it must instead be done through making peace and re-establishing friendly relations with nations.
Ungoofaaru MP Mohamed Waheed from The Democrats submitted an emergency motion to parliament regarding the events of last week when Indian Coastguard boarded and ran operations on local fishing vessels which were within the Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone.
Speaking during the debate on this motion, Eva said that these are not the times when borders are protected through the use of heavy weaponry, and that it was never the norm in smaller countries like the Maldives.
"The Maldives is a nation who has always offered safe passage to cargo, people, goods and protected our borders. Unless we re-establish those peaceful conditions, we cannot guarantee the security of our borders," Eva said.
"We cannot protect our borders through the use of massive weaponry."
Eva maintained that Maldives does not have to bow down in front of any other nation, and that this must be established through being peaceful. She said that creating disharmony in foreign policy would only affect Maldivians adversely.
"Let me repeat this. We can only secure our borders, gain economic security, and any other security, through maintaining peaceful relations with our neighbours and other nations," Eva asserted.
In today's Presidential Address, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said that he believes the Maldivian military needs efforts to further strengthen modern military capability so as to protect the Maldives via land, air or sea.
"God willing, we have commenced efforts to achieve this. The Maldivian National Defence Force will, god willing, soon possess the capability to monitor and protect the 900,000 kilometers of the Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone ceaselessly, 24 hours," he said.
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