Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed has called for a "tolerant" form of Islam, his office said Saturday, amid opposition calls to usher in strict Islamic law for the island nation. Nasheed urged the country of 330,000 Sunni Muslims, to reject religious extremism and support the "traditional form" of Islam that has been practiced in the Maldives for the past 800 years.
"I asked you to come here in support of the middle, tolerant path," he said, addressing ruling party supporters on Friday. Nasheed said moderate Islam was vital to preserve the tourism industry which generates more than two-thirds of the country's earnings. "To build our economy we need foreign investments and we need to create an environment in which foreigners can invest. We can't achieve development by
going backwards to the Stone Age or being ignorant," he said. Opposition supporters rallied hundreds on Friday, calling on the government to scrap plans for direct airlinks with Israel, and to ban alcohol sales in island resorts as well as shutter brothels operating as massage parlours.
The demonstrators called for the nation, which is spread over 1,200 islands, to enforce strict religious law, and end anti-Islamic activities. "We are here to show that will not support those policies, yet we are not extremist," Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, who heads the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), was quoted saying by the privately-run Minivan News website. "We will stay forever as an Islamic nation."