Hope to send Indian troops in first week: Muizzu

President-elect Dr Mohamed Muizzu has expressed hope that the evacuation of Indian troops from the Maldives will be successful within the first week of assuming office.

Muizzu made the remakes in response to a question from reporter Sami Zeidan in an interview with Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel.

"Even if it's possible within the same, within the first week, that's how serious for us it is," Muizzu said when the reporter prompted in Muizzu would say that he would like to see Indian troops leave the Maldives within a year of him taking office.

In the almost half an hour interview, many of Sami Zeidan's questions focused on Muizzu's government's foreign policy and India-Maldives relations. He also asked many questions regarding the Indian troops in Maldives.

Muizzu noted:

"At the moment, we have Indian troops here. The president himself has stated this. They're here. Maybe he's mentioning that it's for other purposes. It doesn't matter for us. We don't want any foreign troops to be here. And that's the main reason. One of the main reasons the public didn't want this government to continue for the next term. So that's one of the main issues that's on our agenda of our foreign policy. And I will make sure that we find a way diplomatically to talk with the Indian government to remove them from our soils as soon as we can," the president-elect told the international media agency in his first international exclusive interview after winning elections.

Muizzu said he had also discussed the withdrawal of Indian troops during his meeting with Indian Ambassador Munu Mahawar as President-elect. The country has given the green signal to work together in this regard, he said.

Muizzu was also asked why he believed that the presence of Indian troops in Maldives was a threat to the country's independence. His response to the question, quoted:

Even if the troops are withdrawn, he will maintain relations with India and wants to continue the developmental investments made by that country, Muizzu added.

Sami Zeidan also asked, “Will you expand your military cooperation with other countries to balance your military cooperation? Countries like China, for example.”

Muizzu responded: “See, we are a small nation. We don't want to be entangled with other bigger countries. We want to be neutral with that and we don't want to bring in other military presence or cooperation to be established just to balance with India.That's not our policy.”

Upon his election, Muizzu was described by the international media as "pro-China" Asked whether he would shape his foreign policy to maintain close relations with China, Muizzu said that: