Maldives Asks India To Withdraw Military Personnel, Sets March 15 Deadline

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Sunday gave a deadline until March 15 for India to withdraw its military personnel from his country.

The development comes days after Muizzu's meeting with China President Xi Jinping on his first state visit to Beijing.

Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the President's Office, said that President Muizzu has formally asked India to withdraw its military personnel by March 15, according to a report in SunOnline newspaper.

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

Maldives and India have set up a high-level core group to negotiate the withdrawal of troops. The group held its first meeting at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Male' on Sunday morning.

The meeting was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, the report said.

Nazim confirmed the meeting and said the agenda for the meeting was the request to withdraw troops by March 15.

On the other hand, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the first meeting of the India-Maldives High-Level Core Group was held in Male on Sunday. "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.

"Both sides also held discussions on finding mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives," the MEA statement said.

It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the High Level Core Group in India on a mutually convenient date, it added. The meeting was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar. Maldives Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting 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," the statement said.

Shortly after being sworn in as the President of Maldives on November 17 of the previous year, Muizzu, regarded as a pro-China leader, formally appealed to India for the withdrawal of its military personnel from his country. He asserted that the Maldivian people had granted him a 'strong mandate' to make this request to New Delhi.

This request for the removal of Indian military personnel arises amidst tensions between the two nations, triggered by derogatory comments posted by three deputy ministers of the Muizzu government against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Muizzu took decisive action by suspending the three ministers following their controversial social media posts, causing concern in India and leading to calls for a boycott by Indian tourists, who constituted the largest group, followed by Russian tourists, with Chinese tourists ranking third.

During his recently concluded state visit to China, President Muizzu aimed to strengthen Maldives' ties with Beijing. Upon returning from China, he indirectly criticized India during a press statement on Saturday.

The Maldives President said, 'We may be small, but that doesn't give you the license 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, addressing the reporters gathered at the Velana International Airport.

He emphasized that regardless of its size, no country should have the authority to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

He pledged to prevent any external interference in the domestic matters of the Maldives.

Male is currently reassessing over 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi that were previously signed by the former government.

There were 24 Indian military personnel to manage the first helicopter, 25 Indians to manage the Dornier aircraft, 26 personnel to manage the second helicopter, and two more for maintenance and engineering.