Historical parliamentary inquiry report on the May 6 terrorist attack, has been passed

The inquiry report by the parliamentary committee on national security or the 241 committee, regarding the terrorist attack on Former President and current Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has been passed.

The inquiry report was passed with the votes of a majority of 58 members that took part in the voting. This report was presented for debates on Thursday night where the last meeting of the term was held. Therefore, all members that were present were given the opportunity to raise objections on the report. The meeting that began at 8:30pm ended at 3:55am.

The members who debated on the report called out to government agencies in relation to recommendations on the report to take action and asked that the parliament continue to probe whether the government performs its duties. Furthermore, members shared concerns regarding the fact that they still did not know who was behind the funding and the motive of the attack. However, they later pointed out that the 241 committee had already done a complete inquiry on the matter within two months.

Out of the 242 pages of the report, 205 things were highlighted. Since this is a report that includes information about national security, some information is confidential. Nevertheless, Aslam stated that the complete inquiry report will be put up by the president, the speaker and the Chief Justice. On the report that is displayed to the public, some parts will not be included as these parts contain names and information that are directly related to the ongoing investigation. Although, Aslam did state that the reasons as to why these parts are not included will be written in the report.

There are a total of 45 recommendations in the report by the committee. This includes the mandating Maldives Police Service (MPS) to monitor Nasheed’s living quarters around the clock, with weapons.

Looking into the points highlighted in the report, his defense intelligence service is to decide how much security is to be provided according to the level of threat and that police have the authority to use their weapons to kill.

The former president's home is to be monitored with cameras, a close protection team is to be trained for an emergency evacuation protocol, police are to provide their services whenever required, it is to be made sure that the car Nasheed uses is a standard car, members of the close protection team must include those who have completed their Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) training with a refresh course to be given to the entire protection team, once a year.

Recommendations also include that, in regards to national security, solutions are to be found with the help of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and police, to find the guidance of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih a national security advisor is to be appointed, the law to stand by Islamic values is to be strengthened and it is encouraged to find out the threats posed by counter terrorism in order to take the necessary steps.

Further recommendations comprise making changes to the values and laws of the police, bringing about change to administrative work and investing in the development of the intelligence by providing them with a system that can hold a bulk of information and a fair budget.

It is to be made sure that a data base is built on identified extremists, these extremists are monitored by government bodies, suspects of terrorism and extremists are rehabilitated and that rehabilitation programs are to be held according to the state of these suspects.

The recommendations also stress the importance of the public knowing how to report and identify extremists, informing the media to stop spreading fear, the media working to identify extremists and bringing about justice and the importance of the safety petrol being educated.

Furthermore, to stop spreading extremism through education and to put a stop to the extremism being spread in jails through religious programs lead by extremists is also included in the report.

Moreover, the report states that it is to be made sure that another incident like the one on May 6th is to not be repeated in order to preserve the trust the nation has on the government, action is taken against those in high positions who fail to fulfill their duties and it is to be made sure that all parties work towards finding out sources of financial aid towards terrorism and bringing a stop to it.

in addition, the main points of the report conclude that laws are to be imposed on money laundering and financing terrorism, that action must be taken towards those who launder money and that the intelligence must be provided with a budget to fund the analytic tools and automatic machines that they require.