Parliament’s National Security Committee has voted in favor of signing a memorandum of understanding with the UN to send Maldivian soldiers to UN conflict zones for peacekeeping operations.
According to the parliament, all the members of the committee were present at the meeting last Monday when the voting was held, including Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Rozaina Adam, Peoples Alliance Party (PA) MP Abdulraheem Abdulla and DRP MP Mohamed Nashiz.
The committee will now submit the matter to parliament for approval.
On April 5, the cabinet decided to sign a memorandum of understanding with the UN to deploy Maldivian soldiers to UN conflict zones, noting that it would be important for the Maldives to contribute to these international efforts to ensure that every country, society and individual had the opportunity to live in peace and security.
The decision was then sent to the parliament for approval, and the parliament voted in favor of sending it to the National Security Committee to examine the issue further.
According to 243[b] of the constitution, “if the President, as Commander in Chief, authorizes or orders the employment of the military service in defence of the republic or as part of an international undertaking, the President shall without delay submit the authorisation to the People’s Majlis. The People’s Majlis may at any time approve the authorisation, or revoke the authorisation.”
Speaking on the matter in parliament, opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP, Ahmed Mahlouf, said the issue was concerning.
“This is no joke, this is a very serious issue,” he said. “I do not think any honorable member would want to send some Maldivians abroad to their deaths.”
Mahlouf said death was a real possibility in peacekeeping operations. He also noted that it was possible that terrorists would target the Maldives if Maldivian soldiers were sent to participate in peacekeeping operations.
Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf also expressed concern over the issue and called on the government to withdraw the decision.
Salaf at the that time claimed that any Muslim who assisted non-Muslims in a war against Muslims would themselves be branded infidels.
“Muslims will be obliged to treat him as a non-Muslim in all ways, such as if dead, burying without enshrouding the body, burying the body with other non-believer, and when dealing with inheritance matters the terms and condition that applies to a non-believer who dies in a war against Muslims will be applied to him,” the NGO said.
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I don't care where a Maldivian solider dies. As someone who is committed to protecting our nation, the soliders themselves must be given every honor when they return from a war zone. Even in death.
Jamiyathul Salaf are unpatriotic hypocrites who are stuck in the 4th century.
This is a big joke; Jamiyyathul Salaf make statements and comments on national affairs. These Mullahs are a threat to our national security and moreover they spread hate massages as a result, uneducated Islands populations are assaulting women physicians and expatriate workers.
i do care if our soldiers die, very easy for us who are not soldiers to say, "i dont care where i soldiers die. they are NOT protecting their nation when they are in some poor war torn country like afghanistan fighting a so called war against terror. its NOT our war and we are only 300,000 people. i know this government is very keen to take whatever it takes to get a nomination for president nasheed for the nobel peace award, but this is too much
Well it will be ok to send soldiers to other places as soon as every rich person, politician in the Maldives sign up thier children to be sent overseas to fight battles. So Salim I belive you fit this description, why dont you volunteer as the first person to be sent overseas to fight.
@dhummaari - do you not realize how much experience will be gained by the MNDF who participate in these missions? Also the capital that the Maldives will receive for simply taking part? Maldivian soldiers will not be patrolling the streets if Afghanistan. Why do you only attempt to see the worse case scenario? They'll likely be observers in other nations to get a general idea of what it's like to work with/in a coalition environment. You obviously know nothing about the military and seem to regurgitate what someone else has forcefully fed you your entire life. Why would you want to deny your soldiers the opportunity to better themselves on a personal and professional level? Nothing but GOOD can from this… other than the soldier unexpectedly dying. Accidents do happen and I will not deny this. The radical groups only spin the negatives without pointing out the benefits. Good job on the NSC and the GOM for approving and Godspeed to the MNDF!
It's hard to support such a policy when I do not approve of our military the way it is.
A large part of our defence budget is spent on unnecessary conventional troops who would not be able to fulfill their purpose if things came to that.
We need to concentrate our resources on a small elite cadre of special forces and a bigger coast guard/navy.
If economic conditions allowed in the future, a bigger vessel capable of policing further beyond our waters, a couple of personnel carrying helicopters and a predator drone would provide 100% of our defence needs.
Not an expert, just feel its crazy to do things the way everyone does when our needs are so much different.
@peasant I agree totally with you on the SF cadre and more emphasis on local patrols etc. With that being said the GOM needs to prioritize what needs to be done and that includes buying new patrol vessels and or fixing the ones that may or may not be operational. I agree that the potential of the MNDF Marines spearheading an attack on a beachfront is slim to none... hence why not increase the capability of the Coast Guard? Eventually, when funds are available... like you said... purchase a few helos and possibly a drone.
unacceptable
“MP, Ahmed Mahlouf: ‘This is no joke; this is a very serious issue. I do not think any honorable member would want to send some Maldivians abroad to their deaths’.”
Well, MP Mahlouf, honourable members should, in fact, put in place laws that will prevent Maldivians from going abroad – be it for business, pleasure, studies or whatnot. You know, there are many potential causes of death abroad. I mean, stuff like road accidents, robberies, bloody riots like we saw in London, drugs that could lead to OD, prostitutes who can infect Maldivians with deadly diseases, alcohol which is the mother of all sins, etc. And, the very act of boarding a plane could be an act that puts the lives of Maldivians in danger. Can you imagine what would happen if a plane full of Maldivians were to crush? Then there are disasters in other countries. Remember the fires and floods in Australia, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and even recently there was a landslide in Malaysia! Now, why would we want to expose Maldivians to potential deaths?
Anyway, me wonders, do you know what peacekeeping really is? Are you confusing unilateral military missions by US, NATO and their allies with UN-led peacekeeping missions? Give statistics of how many have perished due to combat in UN peacekeeping missions. Do you even know how many, let alone where, missions are currently ongoing? Have you heard of any combat-related deaths among UN forces in Cyprus, Lebanon, Kosovo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Sudan, East Timor and Democratic Republic of the Congo? Please, get your facts right, refer to http://goo.gl/bVz0k before you peddle lies.
Having said that, to any soldier, including peacekeepers, the risk of dying in combat is real. That risk applies to our men and women in uniform even when they are in Maldives as they are ready to defend us.
I sincerely echo the sentiments of peasant. Military budget needs to be refashioned, reduced and rethought altogether.
I hate getting personal or starting fights but Mr. Salim Waheed,with all due respect, you have seriously failed as a propagandist and promoter. Perhaps your lack of knowledge about the country and culture and your acclimatization to mostly American modes of thought have stripped you of whatever sway you held where you grew up.
In your comment, you have tried to appeal to a sense of patriotism and pride in military prowess. This is an American ideal and the concept does not exist at all in our country. I think you need to open your eyes and open the gates of Hilaaleege to people who actually understand this country and its people and are interested in trying to do so. The kind of pretentious wannabes who waltz in and out of there with their crippling inferiority complexes which force them to utter every second sentence in alien languages and even stranger faux accents has melted my heart into giving you this advice.
In frankness does the Maldives people have sense of Honour and spittle of bravery, when people join the military they agree to put their lives at risk, some people seek out the service.
Give this opportunity for the brave men in our national defence. No amount of training would be equal to live action/operations.
I do care about the lives of our soldiers. We don't have to send our soldiers to wars which don't matter to us in any way. Our soldiers are best needed for us than those places.
The Military very proudly announces that they are not simply soldiers, they are there for anything the nation wants. And thus, the military is now layinng the bricks of Addu Harbours, Sewarages of Hithadhoo, the pavements of Gan/Feydhoo Courseway. As many have highlighte as comment to this article, there is a need to rethink what military ought to do and what the military actually do.
Nothing in life gives anyone more experience than the real thing. By going on as observers and then hopefully as peace keepers, it would give MNDF real experience in these things.
This is not fighting and UN Peace Keepers are not allowed to invade or fight and they are only allowed to defend themselves.
Right now Maldives do not have the capacity and the capability to act as UN Peace Keepers as they do not even have the equipment and experience.
Right now they would probably go as UN Observers under attachment.
Small countries like Fiji also provide a lot to the UN Peace Keeping Mission and see no reason why Maldives should not do so.
As for Salaf, I have never seen a more ignorant bunch of idiots.
It appears these s*ds in the committee who have no reckoning of what it feels to be in conflict zones one has nothing to do with, feel its ok to send as forces an amount of dhivehi dharin from amongst a population of drops-of-water, just so they could look good while posing for pictures with real leaders of real countries.............. for every soldier that drops on non-maldivian soil, involved in non-maldivian conflict, these buffoons- these corrupt decrepit ganglords in government will pay in blood. mark my words.
what is wrong with the people who inhabit this archipaleago? rwe so oblivious of our place in the grand scheme of things? just becos we import, sport foreign costumes, babble their idio-stigmatism, their 'culture', it does not mean we are even close to being the civlized advanced world that is the west! we are imposters, with an identity that escapes us... our men and women who ever so constantly try to impersonate the westerner may only bow in shame at how superficial our duplication of civilization and society is, in the face of its true architects.... wot a bunch of losers we all are... zero productivity, zero innovation, thus zero intelligence, zero education etc etc and we still think that just becos we own a duccati we r on top of the world.... learn to live by your means oh dhivehin, learn your place; this attitude carries no weight on the international stage; the refugee population in any camp our little cops are dispatched to would easily exceed our total population alone.... so wotha fk..... get ur act together, and start wearing mundu and fattaru, go back to basics and start weaving levi, maldivian style.
idiots.
Why are we always trying to immitate originality that comes from abroad, on mini-scales?..... peacekeeping forces?!! hahaha wot a joke.
crap.wat the hell..its not a matter of religion.maldivians should not participate in this shit.we are very few.wat experience we need? whom are we going to fight? india,srilanka or pakistan? who? wat type of fight can we do in maldives? desert storm, gorilla or air warfare? lets think y we need experience in combat.we are nothing without india..thats the truth.
We saw what happened when twenty odd Tamils invaded Maldives in 1986. Apart from the three or four people who have been trained abroad none had fired a gun in their lives.
None of them know what a combat was. Now at least they would know what it is like to be in some kind of a war zone.
Why shouldn't the MNDF be allowed to gain some kind of experience in foreign countries? Why should they be discriminated?
If they volunteer to be sent abroad on Peace Keeping mission why not?
We do not have enough soldiers to defend our own country and yet we are want them to sent overseas? Stupid politicians.