The parliament's 241 committee has passed to investigate three agreements between Maldives and India as well as a letter sent by former President Solih to Prime Minister of Mauritius.
The 241 Committee of the Maldivian parliament, which oversees the operations of the security services under Article 241 of the country's constitution, decided today to review three agreements former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration signed with neighbouring India.
Speaking at the committee's sitting today, central Hithadhoo constituency's MP Ahmed Azaan proposed to commence a parliamentary inquiry alleging that the previous government's actions affected the country's independence and sovereignty.
He initially suggested to probe into all such actions of the former administration. However, other members in the committee highlighted that individual matters must be identified for such a review.
As such, he proposed the matters he wants to investigate, which includes the hydrography agreement, the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) agreement and the agreement concerning the Dornier aircraft gifted to the Maldives by India.
Out of these three agreements, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's administration decided against renewing the hydrography agreement.
Azaan's concern with the hydrography agreement lies with the reason why Maldives signed the agreement. Similarly, with the Dornier agreement, he wants to identify the reason why the agreement was signed suddenly back then.
As for the UTF agreement, he voiced that there are many areas of concern with regards to it and said he wants to understand how the agreement was reached and why Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)'s senior leadership was not consulted at the time.
In order to review these agreements, Azaan proposed to appoint a sub-committee, adding that this sub committee should look into any other actions by the former government which endangered the sovereignty of the country, if any.
Speaking further on the topic, Azaan said that the purpose of investigating these agreements is not to humiliate previous government officials, but to prevent such incidents from repeating and protecting the interest of the country.
Apart from the three agreements proposed by Azaan, MP for Maamigili constituency Qasim Ibrahim also proposed to investigate the letter sent to the Prime Minister of Mauritius by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The 241 committee passed to review all four cases, and appointed a sub-committee which includes MP Azaan, MP of Dhiggaru constituency Ahmed Nazim, MP of Hanimaadhoo constituency Abdul Ghafoor Moosa and MP of Thulhaadhoo constituency Abdul Hannaan Abubakr.