Shahid: Unable to specify no. of Indian soldiers because they aren’t any

Main opposition MDP’s leader Abdulla Shahid states the current administration is unable to specify the number of Indian military personnel based in the Maldives because there aren’t any armed foreign soldiers.

Shahid served as the foreign minister in the former administration. Back then, the current administration that had been the opposition, had mainly critiqued MDP’s administration for the close relations maintained with India. The opposition back then had carried out a nationwide campaign titled ‘India Out’.

In an exclusive interview with Sun after assuming MDP’s leadership – Shahid accused the current administration of “lying” to come to power.  

“The slogan they had mainly pushed during their campaign to come to power was ‘India Out’. To pave the way for this, they had been repeatedly lying and seeding conflict and anger among the society,” he said.

PPM-PNC, which had been the opposition back then, alleged that thousands of armed Indian soldiers were based in various regions of the Maldives.

Shahid said the allegations made against MDP’s administration claiming the administration had allowed Indian soldiers to be stationed in the Maldives and executed agreements with India in a manner that threatens Maldives’ sovereignty are now being proven false.

“They are in power today. They have the opportunity to review and research the agreements. Back then, they were saying the agreements would be disclosed to the public. They have the opportunity to do this today,” Shahid, who has extensive experience in the foreign relations sector said.

He added that the current administration now believes MDP administration’s claims that the agreements were not disclosed to respect diplomatic policies.

“If such clauses threatening independence and sovereignty were included as claimed, why not disclose it? If there were thousands of armed soldiers in the Maldives as claimed, they should have been removed by now. Or the numbers should have been directly disclosed. But it has not been. This is because there aren’t any armed soldiers in the Maldives as claimed,” he said.

Shahid added that changing the attire of Indian technical staff in the Maldives for the operation of helicopters and dornier aircraft for humanitarian needs cannot be misled as expelling Indian soldiers. He stressed that foreign nations’ view of the Maldives will deeply be impacted if the foreign policy is built upon such nonsensical things.

“Trust would be lost when foreign policy is built upon nonsensical things,” he said.

“Not only the relations between Maldives and India, but also relations with other nations. Their view of the Maldives will be deeply impacted,” he said.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has previously stated that an agreement has been reached with India regarding the withdrawal of the troops. However, the specific number of Indian soldiers has never been disclosed by the government to date.

Responding to a written request by Sun, the Defense Ministry said the details of the Indian military personnel based in the Maldives are presently classified, adding efforts were underway to disclose this information after declassification.