Reiterating his demand that India withdraw its troops from Maldives, the Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its military deployment from the archipelago nation by March 15. On Sunday (14th January), Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the Maldives President’s Office, addressed a press conference and informed that President Muizzu has formally asked India to withdraw its military personnel by March 15. This comes two months after Male sought their withdrawal.
“Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration,” Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim said.
Reports say that at present, there are 88 Indian army personnel in the Maldives. The Maldives and India have formed a high-level core group to negotiate troop disengagement. On Sunday morning, the committee met for the first time at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Male’. Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar also attended the meeting.
As per a SunOnline report, Ibrahim Khaleel, Minister at the President’s Office for Strategic Communications said that the high-level core group meeting was held as per the decision taken by Maldives and India during a meeting on the sidelines of the COP28 in Dubai in December between Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
#Livestream: Press Conference by the Principal Secretary to the President on Public Policy, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim https://t.co/dVM07fBRXc
— The President's Office (@presidencymv) January 14, 2024
According to Khaleel, the group discussed the withdrawal of Indian troops as well as the acceleration of India-backed development projects in the Maldives. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has not issued any statement on the reported meeting so far.
In December last year, Muizzu announced that India had agreed to withdraw its soldiers from the Maldives. This came after Muizzu requested India on November 17, 2023, to withdraw the Indian troops deployed in the island nation.
The development comes amidst diplomatic tensions between India and Maldives escalated after a controversy erupted over derogatory and racist remarks made by the three now-suspended Maldivian ministers on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India. It is to be noted that on social media platform X, the suspended ministers, namely Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef and Mahzoom Majid, recently called Prime Minister Modi a “clown” and a “puppet of Israel” in response to his posts about Lakshadweep islands.
Pertinently, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) leader Mohamed Muizzu won the presidential election in October last year after running a vicious “India Out” campaign. The Maldivian President is also known for his pro-China stance. Just days after the diplomatic row erupted between India and Maldives, Muizzu, while on a state visit to China, urged the country to send more tourists to the island nation.
Back in 2020, then in the Opposition, the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) kickstarted the “India Out” campaign under former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. The party backed by a news outlet named “Dhiyares” took to the streets donning red shirts with the text “India Out”, a demand to remove the Indian military forces deployed in the island nation.
Notably, Maldives is dependent on India for the majority of goods, making India one of its primary trade partners. India’s exports to the Maldives accounted for Rs 49 crore of the overall trade between India and the Maldives in 2022 making India the island nation’s second-largest trading partner.
In addition to providing essentials like food, water and infrastructure, and higher education, India has also been a major support for the island nation in the arena of medical tourism. Reports say that India is the most preferred destination for Maldivian medical travellers. Notably, according to the Maldives Ministry of Tourism, India was the main source of tourist influx in 2023. Between January 1 and December 31, 2023, 209,198 Indians visited Maldives. According to the Indian government, India is the 2nd leading source market for Maldives with an 11.1% market share.
