Maldives lacks no people to defend Islam and the nation: Sheikh Imran

President of the opposition Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Imran Abdullah has said that there will never be a shortage in the people to defend Islam and the nation even if the current administration tries to intimidate them by arresting them one by one.

Sheikh Imran noted that the government is now trying to blackmail religious scholars by plotting wicked schemes out of desperation. He said that the 23 December coalition is a coalition that will never be intimidated by the cheap attempts and will always remain steadfast to protect the Islamic unity of Maldives.

“We will wage Jihad against all anti-Islamic waves that hit our shores.  Jihad here does not mean waging an armed war. Rather, here what we are referring to as Jihad is all things that is done to protect the Islamic unity.  This Jihad is among the highest levels of Jihad.  This Jihad can never be stopped by desperate attempts of the government to terrorize us,” he said.

Moreover, Sheikh Imran revealed that some of the Muslim leaders have succumbed to the demands of the Israeli occupied nation because they are being black mailed by the Zionists. He said that the government can never win even if they imitate the machinations of Zionists to blackmail people.

Meanwhile, Civil Society Coalition and the opposition political parties has announced to hold another mass gathering on February 24 as a retaliation at the failure of the government to succumb to the five demands of the “Maldivians In Defence of Islam” December 23 mass demonstration.

In press conference held at Nalahiya Hotel, President of the Civil Society Coalition Sheikh Mohamed Didi said that the network of NGOs and the opposition political parties decided to hold a national symposium because instead of yielding to the demands of the mass demonstration the government criticized the demands by labeling the demonstration a political gathering aimed at overthrowing the MDP government; supported by only a few people.

“Many of the people want this movement to be continuous. This time this movement will be kick started with the initiative of the opposition political parties. Up until now nine parties have joined us. Other parties still have the opportunity to join this coalition. All the NGOs who participated in the earlier demonstration will participate in this symposium,” he said.