Maldives asks India to Withdraw Troops by 15th March
Image Source: The Hindu
The Maldivian President, Mohamed Muizzu, has asked India to withdraw its troops from his country by 15th March, as per a senior official who stated in the mail that “Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr. Mohammed Muizzu and that of his administration,” Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the President’s Office, 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 Maheshwar, Maldivian media report said; the Indian government did not immediately confirm the media report or comment on it.
How many Indian troops have been deployed in Maldives?
On the contrary to what the ‘India Out’ rhetoric in Maldives may suggest, no large contingent of Indian soldiers is present on the archipelago. As per the latest government figures, there are 88 Indian military personnel in the Maldives.
They have been sent to the Maldives at various points for training Maldivian troops in both combat and reconnaissance and rescue aid operations. Yet, there have been some Maldivian nationals, including politicians who have protested their presence in any capacity in the country.
Analysts in the Maldives and India say that the ‘India Out’ campaign has exaggerated the role that these soldiers play in the Maldives and have portrayed their presence as a threat to the country’s national security.
Although India and Maldives have a long history of cooperation in a variety of areas like defense, the ‘India Out’ campaign began much later, sometime in 2020. The resentment had been building ever since Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of the Progressive Party (PPM), with a pro-China tilt, became the president in 2013.
However, a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the Core Group meeting held on Sunday evening made no mention of a request for the withdrawal of Indian troops. Instead, it noted that both sides discussed “finding mutually workable solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medical education services to the people of Maldives.”
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