A confidential letter sent by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to the Mauritius Prime Minister amid a maritime boundary dispute between the countries did not include any concession of the country's territorial waters, the Bar Council's law reform and research committee said on Monday night.
The letter could not have caused the loss of Maldivian territory or adversely affected the judgment by the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the committee assured.
Appearing on Raajje TV's 'Fashaairu' program on Saturday, Solih said the letter was shared upon request by the Bar Council for its study on the border issue.
"...and we have shared when the Bar Council requested it for their ongoing work on preparing a report. So they will know very clearly what's in the letter," he said.
Citing the law reform and research committee, which is studying the international court's delimitation of the maritime boundary between the Maldives and Chagos, Bar Council President Ismail Wisham said the committee has seen the original letter.
"The letter was in the file brought by the subcommittee to study the issue. We checked whether the copy matched the original letter. We were shown the original letter as well [by the President's Office]. There was nothing in it that could have affected the case. And there was nothing that could have caused the loss of Maldivian territorial independence," Wisham said.
The Bar Council's executive committee has yet to consider the findings.
The president said the only reason for keeping the letter classified was to respect diplomatic rules of disclosure. The letter does not have any content related to Maldivian independence and sovereignty, he assured.
