Maumoon: Saudi Arabia doesn’t “produce” terrorists

Former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has commented that Saudi Arabia wasn’t a country which “produced” terrorists, hitting back on recent comments made by former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed, in a recent interview to an Indian newspaper commented that Saudi Arabia “produced” terrorists. And that it was Maldivians who studied in Saudi Arabia who spread extremism in the country and joined terrorist organizations.

“Sun” requested a comment from Maumoon regarding the remarks.

“Saudi Arabia doesn’t produce terrorists. The country has the respect of all Muslims,” said Maumoon.

Maumoon said that extremism wasn’t a result of a person getting education in a particular

country. He said that extremism arose from lack of proper understanding of the religion of Islam.

Comments made by Nasheed in his interview created backlash with multiple Islamic scholars denouncing the comments.

Meanwhile, the opposition, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expressed concern over plans by Saudi Arabian government to invest in F. Atoll.

MDP alleged that Maldivian government was going to “sell” the entire F. Atoll to Saudi Arabia, and pledged to do whatever it could to derail the project.

Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is set to visit Maldives later this March as part of his current tour of South Asian countries.