The current government has disclosed the contentious letter sent by the previous administration to Mauritius.
The letter, addressed to the Prime Minister of Mauritius was sent by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The previous government was criticized heavily for refusing to share the details of the letter sent to the Mauritian PM, officially declaring the change of Maldivian government's stand regarding the administrative ownership of Chagos Archipelago.
While the letter was never submitted to the parliament for review, the then government also refused to publicize it.
Despite mounting public criticism and scrutiny from the then opposition, the Solih Administration did not relent in its decision against publicizing the letter.
Amid the presidential campaign, an apparent copy of the letter was leaked online, which the then government admitted was legitimate.
The letter was publicized with the President's Office statement announcing the government's decision to form a special inquiry committee on the Maldives-Mauritius boundary demarcation issue and the allegations placed on the previous administration's stand change on the Chagos ownership issue.
Both the leaked letter and the publicized letter contained the same content.
The letter did not contain explicit statements confirming the government's decision to relinquish sovereign control of part of the Maldivian borders. However, it states that both former President Solih and the Mauritian PM held discussions prior to the letter, which had not been detailed in the letter.
"... investigations into the matter so far have not revealed any documents pertaining to the arrangement between the two countries, nor any document confirming if the agreed terms were fulfilled or not," the statement read.
In the previous administration's letter to the Mauritius PM, former President Solih confirmed the government's decision to change Maldives' position on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled "Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965." Solih assured that the Maldives would vote "yes" to the resolution at the 2022 UNGA meeting.
The former President, in the letter, further stated that the Maldives' previous position opposing Mauritius was based on the latter country's objection to Maldives' July 2010 submission to the Commission on the Limits of The Continental Shelf ("CLCS").
Highlighting the Maldivian government's prioritization of supporting decolonization and ensuring the right of people to self-determination, the Maldives decided to vote in favor of Mauritius in the boundary demarcation case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), as it did not affect the Continental Shelf issue.
The previous government, after initially resisting publicizing the letter, eventually shared it with the parliament's 241 Committee and the Maldives Bar Council. The parliamentary committee concluded to translate the letter into Dhivehi language and open the discussions for public knowledge.
Despite this, the committee did not hold any discussions on the matter as agreed.
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