The letter by Solih to Mauritius: the mystery continues

One of the biggest topics of conversation in the Maldives as of late has been the boundary issue surrounding the Maldives and Mauritius.

Regardless of the boundary disputes being settled on paper and Maldives getting the bigger portion of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the matter did not just end there. As the Maldives is a nation that has never stood in favour of Mauritius when it came to their claim towards the Chagos Islands until very recently, the settlement of the boundary dispute became a major topic of discussion as the current President of the Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in a letter he wrote to the Prime Minister of Mauritius supported their claim to the islands.

Though this letter addressing the support towards their claim was sent out in 2021, following the settlement of the EEZ zone, which saw the Maldives losing a big chunk of the ocean which was fully owned by the Maldives prior to the disputes, the conversation surrounding the letter and the failure of the Government as a whole to fight for the rights of the Maldives has become a major point of discussion. 

One of the direct effects of the letter as well as the boundary settlement in the Maldives has been the opposing parties filing no-confidence motions against those who they believe are responsible for the failure to claim the whole EEZ zone for the Maldives. With this, so far a no-confidence motion has been filed against the Attorney General Riffath as well as the Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and the opposing parties are also working on filing a similar motion against the President himself. 

And though a lot of people thought this case was going to end here, it appears that everyone has become extremely curious over the contents of the letter which was addressed to the Prime Minister of Mauritius by the President of the Maldives. One of the many reasons for this might be to see whether this letter directly or indirectly led to the Maldives losing half of the EEZ zone to Mauritius. 

Regardless of the reasoning behind the curiosity, a local news media filed to get access to the letter under the Right to Information Act, which was denied by the President’s Office. Following the denial, the President’s Office revealed that even though access to the information was requested under the Right to Information Act, this information cannot be disclosed as it is not the administration’s policy to disclose details regarding international correspondence between nations. The President’s Office further stated that the President has disclosed the content of the letter prior to this, and the letter itself will not be made public. 

This denial to access information is sure to be met with criticism by the public as the Right to Information Act is a common method used not only by media outlets but even by people of the public in order to figure out whether measures were taken according to the law. This Act has helped the public and the media hold not only the Government but companies and businesses liable for the actions that they have taken.