A subcommittee has been formed to evaluate foreign religious scholars to assess whether they are up to the standards set by the country's religious laws.

According to the press statement by the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) released on Sunday, discussions during the meeting by the counter-radicalisation committee of the NCTC held on the same day touched on strengthening regulations regarding foreign religious scholars brought to the country, in preparation for this year's Ramadan.

As such, NCTC revealed that a sub-committee, consisting of relevant authorities, will be formed in order to assess whether the religious scholars are up to the standards set by the religious laws of the Maldives.

The sub-committee will comprise of relevant ministries such as; the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), Maldives Police Service (MPS), Maldives Immigration and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

While highlighting that the aforementioned discussions also featured increasing the roles of city, atoll and island councils, NCTC added that discussions further touched on providing more chances to local imams to lead Taraweeh prayers during Ramadan.