Maldives' recently elected president Dr Mohamed Muizzu is determined to get Indian troops out of the country. As per a BBC exclusive, Muizzu, withing few days of his electoral victory, met the Indian ambassador and "told him very clearly that every single Indian military personnel here should be removed".
The decision comes as Maldives has long been influenced by India.
Mr Muizzu's electoral victory was seen as a setback for India as his opponent, the incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was inclined to establishing closer diplomatic relation with India since taking over in 2018.
As per media reports, the alliance backing Mr Muizzu portrayed Mr Solih's India-first policy as a potential threat to the Maldives' sovereignty and security. Moreover, 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.
Removal of Indian troops
According to Mr Muizzu, the presence of the Indin troops in the island country 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.
The row over removal of the Indian troops was triggered by a furore over "gifts" that Delhi gave the Maldives which included two helicopters received in 2010 and 2013 and a small aircraft in 2020.
Initially, Delhi said that the craft were to be used for search and rescue missions and medical evacuations.But in 2021, about 75 Indian military personnel were based in the country to operate and maintain the Indian aircrafts, as per the Maldivian defence force.
India has made an investment of $2bn in development assistance to the country as India wishes to continue with its infuence o the strategically located islands to monitor a key part of the Indian Ocean.
