Maldives new president wants India out, Told India to remove troops
Maldives new president wants India out, Told India to remove troops
Maldives President-elect Mohamed Muizzu, who is known for his strong China leanings, has reportedly told India to remove its troops from the country.
Speaking to BBC on Sunday (Oct 22), Muizzu, who won elections last month and is to be sworn in later in November, said he met Indian ambassador Munu Mahawar a few days after he won the elections and “told him very clearly that every single Indian military personnel here should be removed”.
Mohamed Muizzu’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) fought this year’s election on the claims that his outgoing predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih allowed India an unchecked presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Muizzu has repeatedly claimed that under Solih’s administration, Maldives’ sovereignty was threatened by the Indian military personnel on the island—a rallying point of the party’s years-long “India out” strategy.
If its troops are forced to leave, it will be a blow for Delhi.
Mr Muizzu’s alliance favours closer ties with China, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Maldives in the form of loans and grants for infrastructure and development projects.
But India, which wants a foothold in the strategically located islands to monitor a key part of the Indian Ocean, has also provided about $2bn in development assistance to the country.
If its troops are forced to leave, it will be a blow for Delhi.
But a furore over “gifts” that Delhi gave the Maldives – two helicopters received in 2010 and 2013 and a small aircraft in 2020 – has given the “India out” campaign a huge boost.
Delhi said the craft were to be used for search and rescue missions and medical evacuations.
But in 2021, the Maldivian defence force said about 75 Indian military personnel were based in the country to operate and maintain the Indian aircrafts. This fuelled suspicion and anger as many felt the reconnaissance aircraft were being used as an excuse to put Indian boots on the ground.
Mr Muizzu also says that the presence of these troops could put the Maldives at risk – especially as tensions between India and China escalate along their Himalayan border.
“Maldives is too small to get entangled with this global power struggle. We will not get entangled into this,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)