Opposition pledges to publicise pres' Chagos letter if voted to power

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's letter to the Mauritian prime minister will be made public if they win the September presidential election and does not believe it should have been sent, the opposition coalition said on Saturday.

In August, President Solih wrote a letter to the Mauritian prime minister stating that Maldives has decided to recognise the islands of Chagos south of Addu as part of Mauritius. The government has refused to disclose the letter, a significant point in reversing the country's earlier stance towards Chagos.

Chagos is now internationally recognised as part of Mauritius. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) ruled on Friday in favour of allocating a bigger portion of the disputed territorial waters between the Maldives and Chagos.

The opposition has been responding to the government's claim that it was a victory for the Maldives. However, some of the statements being made by senior PPM leaders are factually incorrect. 

Speaking at a press conference held on Saturday, Abdul Raheem Abdulla, who is in charge of the opposition coalition, said that one of the main concerns in this case was that President Solih had sent the letter to the prime inister of Mauritius without a word from the parliament.

"We would say that this is a robbery conducted out in the open. The main problem is that President Solih does not have the right to send the letter," Abdul Raheem said, accusing the president of violating the constitution.

"And the people of the country do not have to accept a decision which is unconstitutional. We do not accept it [the verdict]."

He said that no matter which court decides to "take away the rights of Maldivians" without a word from the locals, he would not believe that it was a fair verdict.

"There is a provision in the constitution that any change in the territory of the country can be effected by the majority of two-thirds of parliament. Without doing so, there is no reason to send a confidential letter," Abdul Raheem said.

"At the same time, what we are alleging now is that there are things happening here where we don't know what's going on at the bottom of it... The first thing we will do when we come to power is to reveal the letter sent by President Solih."

President Solih said on Friday that he was ready to reveal everything in the letter down to each letter, even if he did not disclose it. He said he was not making the letter public because such documents sent by senior government officials to leaders of other countries were not made public.

The Friday ruling by ITLOS, the tribunal that decides on disputes arising out of international maritime law, contains information from the letter, the president said.

The Maldives also got the larger area when it was divided between Chagos and Maldives. 

While the opposition claims to have an EEZ of 200 nautical miles south of the country, till Friday, there was no internationally recognised territorial boundary from the south of the country. In the past, the Maldives has been looking at the country's economic zone towards Chagos, about 140 nautical miles.

Abdul Raheem's comments, referring to the constitution, also contained non-factual information. For one thing, the constitution says the territory of sovereignty of the country is 24 nautical miles. Outside of that, an EEZ is defined only for economic purposes. The laws of the Maldives also empower the state to take a decision in consultation if there is a conflict with the EEZ of another country.

Under the previous agreements signed with India and Sri Lanka in 1976, the Maldives had acquired an EEZ of about 60 nautical miles in the north and about 140 nautical miles in the northeast. In addition, the Maldives has an area of 200 nautical miles in the western part of the country due to there being no EEZ of any country.

With Friday’s verdict, all the regional areas of the Maldives, which will be internationally recognised, have been finalised.

One of the concerns raised by some citizens in the case is the reason why the governments never advocated that Chagos belongs to the Maldives. Foreign minister Abdulla Shahid said in a press conference on Friday night that Yameen's government had squandered the last opportunity to advocate that Chagos belonged to Maldives.

Abdul Raheem also hit back at Shahid's statement.

"Can they show us a letter sent by President Yameen to release Chagos or to divide the area?," Abdul Raheem said.

Abdul Raheem alleged that shahid was one of the "beneficiaries of the deal". He said:

"Shahid is purchasing an island that I have been visiting for a long time, under someone else's name. I am told that so far between USD 4 million and USD 6 million has been spent," Abdul Raheem alleged.

"President Solih doesn't know how much money he received in this deal. If anybody was given a share of  it, it would be Solih."

The opposition has in the past accused the government of accepting bribes in the Chagos case. However, the government denies this.

The opposition has alleged India's influence in changing the country's stand during the Chagos issue. This too is denied by the government.

"With yesterday's verdict, the Prime Minister of Mauritius has thanked India," Abdul Raheem said.

"I don't understand why the Foreign Minister of Mauritius should be grateful to India when a matter between the Maldives and Mauritius has gotten settled," Abdul Raheem said.

"It shows that India's influence is here."