After China visit, Maldives president Muizzu asks India to withdraw military personnel before March 15

Maldives has proposed a deadline for India to withdraw its military presence in deployed in the Indian Ocean archipelagic nation, according to a report.

After his China visit, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, who is known for his Beijing leanings, has formally asked that the Indian government withdraw its troops stationed in the Indian Ocean archipelagic nation before March 15, a senior official said on Sunday (Jan 14), as per news agency PTI reports.

The move comes nearly two months after Male sought the exit of the Indian military presence.

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There are 88 Indian military personnel in the Maldives as per the latest government figures.

Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the President’s Office, during a press briefing, said that Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its troops by March 15, news agency PTI said citing SunOnline newspaper reports.

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

He also confirmed that the agenda of the meeting was to request the withdrawal of the military personnel by March 15.

A high-level core group has been set up by the two countries to negotiate the talks and the first meeting was held at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Male’ on Sunday morning.

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

Shortly after taking over the office on Nov 17, 2023, Muizzu, who is seen as a pro-China politician, asked India to remove its military forces from the Maldives claiming the Maldivians had given him a "strong mandate" to make this request to New Delhi.

The Maldivian President's office had then issued a statement saying, Male hopes "India will honour the democratic will of the people".

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"The President noted that at the Presidential Election held in September, the Maldivian people had given him a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives," the statement read.

‘Cannot bully us,’ Muizzu takes swipe at India after China visit

After returning from his visit to China, Muizzu indirectly took a jibe at India during a press conference saying, “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us.”

He then went on to announce plans to secure imports of necessary food items, medications, and consumables from other nations in order to reduce the country’s dependency on India

Muizzu also noted that the Indian Ocean "does not belong" to one particular country and that Maldives "is not in anyone's backyard".

“Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 900,000 square kilometres. Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean. This ocean does not belong to a specific country,” he added.

This also came amidst a diplomatic row between India and Maldives got triggered after the sitting Maldivian deputy minister, along with other cabinet members and government officials, made disparaging references to Indian PM Narendra Modi's Lakshadweep visit and passed some derogatory remarks against Indians.

(With inputs from agencies)