Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, MP Mark Field is to meet with Maldives Ambassador to the UK, to discuss the Maldives crisis.
Speaking at the UK Parliament on Tuesday, MP Field revealed that he has a meeting with the ambassador the next day “to seek an explanation of what the [Maldivian] government is doing in these areas”.
“The current situation in the Maldives is deeply worrying. President [Abdulla] Yameen’s crackdown on media, judges and political opponents through the suspension of fundamental rights is unacceptable in any country that calls itself a democracy,” said Field, adding that he shall “make the argument” when he meets with the Maldivian Ambassador “tomorrow at the Foreign Office”.
Noting that the ambassador “works closely with UK parliamentarians” to promote Maldives, MP Field said he hopes that he would have heard the concerns raised in the parliament, “not least because they have been raised by parliamentarians who have interests of the Maldives and its citizens close to their heart”.
MP Field also noted UK’s Ambassador to Maldives, James Dauris traveled to the Maldives on 8th February to raise the UK’s concern directly with the government. However, government officials refused to meet with Dauris, and the others ambassadors accompanying him.
