Former Defence Minister and current MP for Maduvari constituency, Adam Shareef Umar has said that national security and public safety are not things that should become a joke.

He made the statement in a tweet after the alert state of the national defence was raised. The former Defence Minister said that taking the steps when national security is threatened is the responsibility of the related state institutes.

Adam Shareef said that public safety is not a joke but a very serious thing and the measures to taken should be proportional to the threat.

The national alert level was raised yesterday and security forces have started operating with weapons in parts of the country. The press statement from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said that the alert status has been raised to Yellow-2.

Alert status Yellow-2 is in effect when there is a threat or a warning of a coming threat of an event that could disrupt civil peace. Many have criticized the raising of the alert.