President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has said that religious extremism exists in the country because the past governments turned a blind eye on the issue and pretended it does not exist.

Speaking at his annual address under Article 84 at the opening of the parliament, President Solih said the rise of extremism in the name of religion puts the whole country at risk the government stood up against it last year.

He said that a national action plan will be established this year to share intelligence among the relevant authorities along with an institutional system to combat terrorism and religious extremism.

And the national reintegration center to rehabilitate the individuals that return to the country from foreign conflict zones will be built this year as well.

There has been a rise of extremism cases in the past year which included marriages to children outside the legal system along with neglecting the education and vaccination of children. And the people who opposed the extremist ideologies have been targeted with physical attacks and vandalism.

The rise of extremism led to a joint operation by the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defence Force in Raa Atoll Maduvari where extremists were arrested and investigated and an independent entity, the Maldivian Democratic Network (MDN) was dissolved due to incindiary anti-Islamic views.