At the second of his weekly press briefings, President Muizzu said he has "nothing to discuss" with visiting US Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor about the potential use of Maldivian territory for military purposes. The government will welcome any country's representative but will not authorise the use of land or airspace for attacks on a Muslim nation, Muizzu told reporters. Iran should attack Israel and US sites in the regions rather than Arab-Islamic nations, as strikes on Muslim countries result in Muslim casualties, he declared. "Israel should be struck night and day. That is how we want it to go," he said. The American envoy reportedly left the Maldives after cancelling a scheduled meeting with President Muizzu, having met only with Foreign Minister Abdullah Khaleel and Defence Minister Ghassan Maumoon. No reason was given for the cancellation.
A feasibility study is underway on establishing oil reserves in three regions, President Muizzu announced. The project will be carried out in three phases over four and a half to five years – each phase taking around 18 months to two years – at an estimated investment of US$ 150 million per phase. He described the reserve as functioning similarly to a Sovereign Development Fund. Full details would be released after the studies are completed, he said. Muizzu reiterated assurances that there will be no shortages of fuel, food or other commodities. Stocks of essential items such as rice, sugar, and flour remain stable and prices are not expected to rise, he said.
The government is finalising a law to enable the execution of death sentences, President Muizzu told the press. The bill is currently in the final drafting stage at the Attorney General's Office and is set to be submitted to parliament during the current session, he added. Muizzu said he does not believe that a regulation is sufficient to legally implement capital punishment and that it is not within his discretion as head of state to leave death sentences unexecuted once all three judicial stages have been completed.
If the public approves proposed constitutional amendments to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections on the same day in the April 4 referendum, President Muizzu said he will introduce a package of legislative reforms including reserving parliamentary seats for youth under 30 and introducing a separate quota for women.
The housing ministry published regulations governing how applicants must relinquish existing housing when allocated a new flat or land plot. Under the rules, land or flats may be transferred without compensation to parents, children, spouses, or siblings in inheritance-related cases, while certain plots must be surrendered to the state, including those received under specific schemes such as Binveriya. Applicants must return flats in their original condition after repairs and notify the ministry within 30 days. The regulation was published after the president announced that owners of plots under 400 square feet would no longer be required to surrender them to the state.
Police arrested Hussain Shahban, 29, from Laamu Maabaidhoo on suspicion of setting fire to a vacant house near the Galolhu mortuary last Wednesday. He was remanded for five days. CCTV footage circulated on social media showed a man entering the building at 10:33am and leaving at 10:39am. Smoke was visible by 10:43am. The warehouse was destroyed in the blaze.
Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom cautioned against sectarian divisions among Muslims, saying labels like Sunni, Shia, and Salafi are used by enemies to divide the ummah. His tweets followed a public debate triggered by the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli strikes. Scholar Ahmed Sameer had posted that Khamenei and Khomeini held beliefs incompatible with Sunni Islam and that Muslims should not glorify them despite Iran's strikes on Israel.
STO will sell subsidised fuel to yellowfin tuna fishing vessels starting Monday, bringing them in line with skipjack fishing vessels already eligible for the subsidised rate, the fisheries ministry announced. The move comes after the Union of Yellowfin Tuna Fishermen raised concerns about the prohibitive price of fuel without the subsidy.
The Supreme Court accepted a constitutional case filed by two lawyers from MDP's legal team – Aik Ahmed Eesa and Ibrahim Shiyam – seeking to halt the April 4 referendum on holding the presidential and parliamentary elections concurrently, on the grounds that the referendum question itself is unconstitutional. The court has notified the lawyers that the case meets procedural requirements and has been admitted. A separate constitutional case filed by former MP Ali Hussain seeking to declare the constitutional amendment null and void is pending a decision on admissibility. MDP had earlier filed related cases in the High Court, including a request for a temporary injunction to stop the referendum, but those cases also remain pending.
Construction began on 50 three-bedroom housing units in Thinadhoo with Housing Minister Dr Abdullah Muththalib officiating the groundbreaking. The project, awarded to Swift Engineering Private Limited under a contractor-financing arrangement, is set for completion within 450 days. Separately, the third phase of road development in Thinadhoo also launched, with RDC set to pave 50 roads covering 19.3 kilometres and install drainage infrastructure.
Maldives Customs handed over two Indian nationals – Yuthish Raj Rajan, 27, and Eeshwaramurthy Shanmugam, 24 – to police on March 20 after intercepting more than 6kg of drugs they allegedly smuggled into the country. Both have been remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigation.
