Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its military personnel from the Indian Ocean archipelago nation by mid-March, officials said the afternoon of Jan 14. 

President Muizzu has formally asked India to withdraw its military personnel, estimated to amount to 88, by Mar 15, president’s office’s secretary, public policy, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim told the press in a briefing in the afternoon, local media reported.

A high-level core group, set by both nations, to negotiate the withdrawal of troops held its first meeting at the foreign ministry in Male on the morning of Jan 14 with Indian high commissioner Munu Mahawar present, he said, adding that the agenda for the meeting was the request to withdraw troops by mid-March.

“Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of president Dr Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration,” he said.

President Muizzu had, during his presidential campaign, asserted that he would accomplish the removal of Indian troops from the Maldives, and had made a formal request to India to withdraw its military personnel soon after assuming office.

Muizzu breaks silence

Amid the row over three junior ministers’ allegedly derogatory remarks against Indian prime minister Narendra Modi over his Lakshadweep visit, the Maldives president, talking to press on Jan 13 after his return from a five-day state visit to China, without naming India, made a further jab at it.

“We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us.”

He also announced plans to reduce the country’s dependency on India, including securing imports of essential food commodities and medicine and consumables from other countries.

“We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state,” he told reporters at the Velana International Airport.

He said that no country has the right to exert influence over the domestic affairs of a country, regardless of its size and vowed that he will not allow any external influence on the domestic affairs of the Maldives.

Jaishankar’s comment

When asked about the recent rift with the Maldives in an event at the town hall meeting in Nagpur the union minister of external affairs S Jaishankar said, “Politics is politics. I cannot guarantee that in every country, every day, everybody will support us or agree with us.”

“Politics may go up and down but the people of that nation generally have good feelings towards India and understand the importance of having good relations,”  added.

He also said that to develop relationships with nations, the government is involved in building roads, electricity, transmission, supplying fuel, providing trade access, making investments, and having people holiday in other countries.

“But sometimes, things do not go in a good way and then you have to reason with people to bring things back to where they should be,” Jaishankar added.

(With inputs from IANS)

-Edited for style

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