MDP chairperson: Nothing alarming in Maldives-India agreements

MDP chairperson, West Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef insisted on Friday that there was nothing concerning in the agreement between the Maldivian and Indian military to develop the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) base. 

He made the comment in an interview to PSM on the current administration’s three-year anniversary on Friday evening. 

The opposition coalition, composed of PPM and PNC, has repeatedly raised concerns over the current administration’s close ties with India, and insist that some of the agreements signed with India, chiefly the UTF agreement, threaten Maldives’ independence. 

Hassan Latheef said that all MDP administrations foster close ties with all bilateral partners, especially India. 

“The current administration has close ties with India. And so did the previous MDP administration. The truth is they have ties with MDP,” he said. 

Hassan Latheef said that there wasn’t anything covert in the Maldivian administration’s relations with India, and that it was clear in the administration’s policies. 

“The President and the party’s leader Nasheed have been clearly communicating our policy, right? That India comes first,” he said. 

Hassan Latheef said that the Maldivian administration had many reasons for its ‘India First’ policy, and said the opposition’s allegations, as well as their ‘India Out’ campaign, were baseless. 

He said that there wasn’t anything concerning in the agreements the opposition spoke of. 

“Now the matter of revealing the contents of the agreements isn’t up to me. It will be done by the government,” he said. 

Hassan Latheef said that he himself believes it important to disclose the contents of the UTF agreement in order to clear doubts. 

He said that the previous UTF agreement signed between India and the former Maldivian administration had allowed India great powers, but the powers were constricted in the new agreement.