"No Indian Troops, Not Even In Civilian Attire": Maldives President Muizzu After India's New Team Reaches To Take Over Aviation Platforms

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has again escalated his anti-India rhetoric, asserting that there will be no Indian military personnel, not even those in civilian attire, present in his country after 10 May, according to a report from The Indian Express.

Muizzu's statement comes shortly after an Indian civilian team arrived in the Maldives to take over one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation, well ahead of the 10 March deadline agreed upon by both countries for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel.

"That these people [Indian military] are not departing, that they are returning after changing their uniforms into civilian clothing. We must not indulge such thoughts that instil doubts in our hearts and spread lies," the portal quoted Muizzu, widely regarded as a pro-China leader, as saying.

"There will be no Indian troops in the country come 10 May. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. The Indian military will not be residing in this country in any form of clothing. I state this with confidence," he said, on a day when his country signed an agreement with China to receive free military aid.

Muizzu rode to power last year on an anti-India stance and within hours of taking oath demanded India to remove its personnel from the strategically located archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

India had agreed to remove its troops from Maldives under the condition that a number of their civilians equivalent to the military presence are brought to operate the aircraft.

The opposition has been directing criticism at the administration asserting that the Indian personnel sent to Maldives as civilians are in reality military officials out of uniform and that the government has no way to ascertain otherwise, the portal claimed.