Islamic Minister: No complaint filed over Immigration beard-ban regulation

Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Ziyad Bagir has said that he wasn’t made aware of the new Maldives Immigration uniform regulation which bans its employees from wearing their beards longs or their pants ankle-length.

The controversial change to Maldives Immigration uniform regulation makes it compulsory for its male employees to keep their beards no longer than two centimeters and their hair cut short. It also bans them from wearing their pants ankle-length.

When asked by a reporter about the new regulation, Dr. Ziyad said that he hadn’t been aware of the issue, and that no one had filed any complaint regarding the issue with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

Ziyad said that he had only heard about the news regarding the regulation circulating in the local media, and that “some reports by the media needed to be fact-checked” before relying on them.

“We have not received any official complaint regarding the issue,” said Ziyad.

He also said that he had not seen the press statement released by Maldives Immigration regarding the new regulation.

Local Islamic scholars have expressed concern over Maldives Immigration’s decision to send notices to employees who refused to comply with the new uniform regulation.

In face of criticism over Immigration’s decision to terminate employees who do not follow the new regulation, the organization said that it was a national security agency legally obligated to maintain safety and security of the Maldivian border. And that its employees therefore needed to follow the code of conduct and uniform standards, as well as other and all of its rules and regulations.

Immigration said that those who did not want to follow the new uniform regulation had the option of transferring to another position, but that the organization cannot guarantee the same salary and allowance they received in their original post.

The Immigration employees who refused to follow the new regulation have been given notice, and will be terminated from their posts on October 1.