The first group of Indian soldiers will be sent back before March 10: President Mohamed Muizzu – Dainik Savera Times

Male: Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu on Monday said the first group of Indian troops from the island nation will be sent back before March 10 while the remaining Indian troops deployed in two aviation platforms will be removed by May 10. Muizzoo, a widely considered pro-China leader, said in his maiden address to Parliament that he believed a large majority of Maldivian citizens supported his administration in the hope that he would end the presence of foreign troops in the country and protect the maritime domain. Will take control again.

He said that his administration will not make any compromise that compromises the sovereignty of the country. Soon after taking oath as the new President of Maldives on November 17, Muizzu had made a formal request to India to withdraw its military personnel from the country by March 15. He had said that the people of Maldives have given him a “strong mandate” to make this request to New Delhi.

Muizzu said in Parliament that ‘diplomatic talks are being held with other countries. We have made an official request to India to withdraw its troops deployed in Maldives. This issue is being discussed.” He said, ‘As per the recent talks, the military personnel deployed on one of the three aviation platforms will be withdrawn before March 10, 2024. The military personnel deployed on the remaining two platforms will also be withdrawn by May 10, 2024.” After the new phase of bilateral talks, India had said on February 2 that a mutually acceptable solution would be found for continuing the operation of Indian military platforms in the island country. The solution has been agreed upon with Maldives.

Currently, Indian military personnel are in Maldives mainly to operate two helicopters and one aircraft. Through these, hundreds of medical rescue and humanitarian aid missions have been completed. Indian platforms have been providing humanitarian and medical services to the people of Maldives for the last few years. The President said that his administration will not do anything that compromises the sovereignty of the country. He said that if this threatens the independence and sovereignty of the country, he will remain firm and will not succumb to external pressure under any circumstances.