Opposition concerned over delay in Fatwa Council appointments

Opposition coalition on Wednesday expressed concern over the delay in the constitution of the Fatwa Council, a supreme council that can address religious issues.

The motion submitted by Maduvvari MP Adam Shareef was passed with the vote of 27 MPs.

Shareef said that the government is not working to form a fatwa council even when religious differences are growing so much in the Maldives that the blood of Muslims have been incited as permissible and acts of terrorism are surfacing.

"I call on the government to form the Fatwa Council with concern for the seeming ignorance of the rising tensions among religious extremists, inciting to draw blood from Muslims and threatening national security among other acts," Shareef said.

The violent protests on 21 May when a group of people entered the yoga event held at the Galolhu National Stadium had gone down at a time people had expressed differing views on yoga and its Hinduism roots.

The work of the Fatwa Council has been halted due to the expiry of the term of its members. Council president Dr Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim is the only remaining member of the council and new members have not been appointed yet.

According to the government, the appointment of new members to the Fatwa Council is delayed in order to transfer the work of the Fatwa Council to the Fiqh Academy.