Ghassan: There were Indian soldiers at UTF, but not anymore

Defense Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon said on Saturday that the government was able to establish that there were Indian soldiers operating at the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) military base, but there aren’t any troops there now.

In a press conference held at the President’s Office on Saturday afternoon, Ghassan said there were documents confirming there were previously Indian soldiers based at UTF. He said that he would have to “look into” how many soldiers there were.

Ghassan said that if the Indian soldiers were brought in under an agreement between Maldives and India, then both parties would need to agree in order to disclose its contents.

“Therefore, I will check on this through the Foreign Ministry and disclose what we can,” he said.

When asked whether the soldiers had been armed, Ghassan responded that the information, too, would need to go through this process.

Back during former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration, the PPM-PNC, which is now in power, alleged that the UTF agreement would allow the presence of armed Indian troops at the base.

During an ‘India Out’ rally on February 11, 2022, former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who was the leader of PPM-PNC at the time, alleged that the Maldivian military did not have any control over UTF, describing it as an Indian military base.

In a statement denying the allegation, the Defense Ministry said there weren’t any armed foreign soldiers stationed at the UTF, or anywhere in the Maldives.