Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has given a deadline to India to withdraw its troops from the island nation. The Maldivian President said the Indian military personnel should leave the nation by March 15.

Maldives Ultimatum On Troops Deepens Row With India

Bilateral ties between the Maldives and India – that have hit rock-bottom in recent weeks – have taken another tumble after Male formally asked Delhi to withdraw its troops from the island nation by 15 March. The demand was conveyed at the first meeting of a high-level core group between the two sides held on Sunday in the Maldivian capital of Male.

“Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. That’s the policy of this administration,” Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary in President Mohamed Muizzu’s office, said.

There are about 88 Indian troops in the Maldives – Delhi says they are based there to maintain and operate two rescue and reconnaissance helicopters and a Dornier aircraft it had donated years ago. On Sunday, Delhi said the officials of the two countries discussed “finding mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian aid and medvac [medical evacuation] services to the people of Maldives”.

The Maldives-India meeting took place a day after Mr Muizzu returned from a state visit to China where he met President Xi Jinping and other senior officials. Beijing and Male agreed to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. He said the Maldives would diversify its food imports and overseas healthcare services, ostensibly to reduce his country’s dependence on India.

Mr. Muizzu also announced plans to import food from Turkey, medicines from Europe and the US and said that Maldivians who were eligible under a state health insurance scheme could go to Dubai and Thailand for treatment. At present, most people go to India and Sri Lanka.

“We are not a country that is in the backyard of another country. We are an independent nation,” he added.

Mr. Muizzu’s closing comment was: “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us.”

Maldives President Asks India To Respect Democratic Will, Withdraw Military

Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and occupies a special place in the Prime Minister’s vision of SAGAR‘ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the Neighbourhood First Policy.’ Maldives’ proximity to the west coast of India (barely 70 nautical miles away from Minicoy and 300 nautical miles away from India’s West coast), and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean gives it significant strategic importance to India.