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A day after Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu took an indirect jibe at India for “bullying”, his government on Sunday set a March 15 deadline for India to withdraw its military personnel from the country.
The deadline was announced by a senior official in the Muizzu government on a day the India-Maldives high-level core group held its first meeting in Male on Sunday.
“In this meeting, on behalf of President Muizzu, the Maldivian delegation proposed the removal of Indian troops by March 15,” Ahmed Nazim, policy director at the President’s Office told reporters, according to a Reuters report. “This date was proposed in the agenda by the government and specifically the President. These discussions are ongoing,” he said.
Local media reports also quoted Nazim on a March 15 deadline. “Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration,” Nazim said, according to the SunOnline newspaper.
The deadline, however, was not mentioned in the statements issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as well as the Maldives Foreign Office.
While confirming the first meeting of the core group, the MEA statement did not mention troop withdrawal as part of the agenda. “The first meeting of the India-Maldives high level core group was held in Male today,” it said. “During the meeting, both sides held discussions on wide ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership, including expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects,” it said.
It said both sides also held discussions “on finding a mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac (medical evacuation) services to the people of Maldives.” The island nation has long relied on India to airlift patients from outer atolls to Male and import essential commodities like medicines and food supplies.
According to reports, the Indian side was represented by High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, Deputy High Commissioner Mayank Singh, and senior officials from the Indian Navy and Coast Guard at the meeting which continued till late afternoon.
The official statement issued by the Maldives Foreign Office, too, mentioned “fast-tracking” of troop withdrawal, but did not set a deadline. “During the meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, both sides reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation. Discussions were held on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including development cooperation. Both sides expressed willingness to intensify cooperation and agreed to fast-track the withdrawal of Indian military personnel,” it said.
According to the latest figures, there are 88 Indian military personnel in the Maldives.
India and the Maldives set up the core group after Modi met Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP 28 summit in Dubai last month. The group’s next meeting will be held in India on a mutually convenient date, both sides said in their statements.
Soon after taking oath as the President of Maldives on November 17 last year, Muizzu had formally requested India to withdraw its military personnel, saying the Maldivian people had given him a “strong mandate” to make this request to New Delhi.
The latest development comes in the wake of a diplomatic row between the two countries, after three deputy ministers in the Maldivian government posted derogatory comments on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over photographs of his trip to Lakshadweep.
Muizzu had immediately suspended the three ministers and his government had issued a clarification, distancing itself from the comments made by the ministers. A day later, India had summoned the Maldivian envoy in New Delhi, making the government’s displeasure over the issue clear to Male.
He vowed that he would not allow any external influence on the domestic affairs of the Maldives. Male is also reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi signed by the previous government here.
During his just-concluded state visit to China, Muizzu sought to align Maldives closer to Beijing. Speaking to the press on Saturday after returning home, he indirectly attacked India. Without naming any country, he said: “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 said, adding that no country has the right to exert influence over the domestic affairs of a country, regardless of its size.
He vowed that he would not allow any external influence on the domestic affairs of the Maldives. Male is also reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi signed by the previous government.
During Muizzu’s visit, China also stated that it “firmly opposes external interference” in Maldives’ internal affairs. “The two sides agree to continue firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their respective core interests,” the two countries said in a joint statement.
“China firmly supports the Maldives in upholding its national sovereignty, independence and national dignity, respects and supports the Maldives’ exploration of a development path that suits its national conditions, and firmly opposes external interference in the internal affairs of the Maldives,” it said.
Barely a month after asking India to withdraw its military personnel, the Muizzu government, which rode to power on an ‘India Out’ poll campaign, had also announced that it would not renew the previous government’s agreement with India on a hydrographic survey of the island nation’s waters.
Before visiting China and Dubai for COP28, Muizzu had chosen Turkey as his first foreign destination, in a departure from past Maldivian Presidents who would choose India as the first stop.
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