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Parliamentary committee to quiz minister over security threat

The parliamentary national security committee has sought to question defence minister Adam Shareef Umar over his recent claims of an imminent national security threat.

The minister has come under intense criticism after making the claim on his personal Facebook page saying that the military had received credible reports of attempts to undermine the peace and security of Maldives.

However, the security forces are yet to back his claim.

Opposition lawmakers in national security committee has made a joint request the committee's chair looking to summon the minister to clarify his claim.

Shareef has since defended his decision to share the information on his Facebook page insisting that he had merely wanted to reach as many people as possible.

He had also accused the opposition of "blowing the incident out of proportion."

The opposition meanwhile has accused the government of using claims of a national security threat as a pretext to delay the upcoming presidential elections. The government along with the ruling party has denied the accusations.