Youth Minister Ahmed Mahloof has responded to the criticism directed towards him, following announcement to hold dialogue with “gangs”.

At a press conference held on Tuesday, the minister stated that he will give the highest priority to finding a solution to the increased gang violence in the country, adding that it “will be done with full transparency”.

Describing the issue as both frightening and saddening, Mahloof emphasized the importance in ensuring a solution.

He added that the first step for this is to “acknowledge that there are gangs.”

In a tweet posted later on Tuesday, the youth minister emphasized that the fact that gangs exist in Maldives ‘cannot be denied’, adding that there have been 35 gang-related deaths within the last five years.

Noting that his vision “is to solve gang violence with dialogue, rather than declaring war,” Mahloof said that he does not want to see “any other youth being killed”.

Following his announcement, some social media users accused the government of “making deals” with gangs and “treating them like political parties,” while others noted that gangs “are illegal”.

Twitter user @mvintel noted that “when recognition is given to a group, a name and branded them within any society, the group becomes empowered.”

Responding to the negativity via twitter on Wednesday, the youth minister noted the various other attempts to control the issue by the previous government, stating that nothing has been “right”.

This includes former President Abdulla Yameen insisting that there are no gangs in the Maldives, former Home Minister Umar Naseer’s attempts to electronically tag high-profile gang members, police’s destruction of a known gang base and removal of “gang huts” across the capital.

While there have been no solutions to the issue thus far, Mahloof noted that his attempts to do so by holding dialogue with them is now a problem.

While some social media users criticized the youth minister for his decision to hold dialogue with gangs, some also applauded him for it.