The newly elected President of the Democratic Party of Maldives posted on his social media account, “In 100 days it is clear: President Muizzu’s claim of “thousands of Indian military personnel” is part of the lies he has told. The conspicuous inability of the current administration to provide numbers speaks volumes. There are no armed foreign troops deployed in the country.” “Transparency plays an important role and the truth should come out,” he said.
He further stressed that transparency matters and the truth should come out. “Transparency matters and the truth should come out,” he said. Let us tell you that the main campaign of Muizzu's party was to remove Indian soldiers from Maldives. Currently, around 70 Indian troops are deployed in Maldives along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters.
The day after assuming office, Muizzu officially requested the Indian government to withdraw its military personnel from Maldives. In December last year, Muizu had claimed that after talks with the Indian government, an agreement had been reached to withdraw the Indian military personnel.
The President also said that diplomatic talks are going on to withdraw Indian troops. He elaborated that, as agreed in earlier talks, military personnel on one of the three aviation platforms will be withdrawn before March 10, 2024, and military personnel on the remaining two platforms will be withdrawn from May 10, 2024. Will be withdrawn first. Earlier this month, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that India would replace military personnel on aviation platforms in the Maldives with capable Indian technical personnel.