Indian Troops Need To Leave: Maldives’ Incoming President Mohamed Muizz

Mumbai: Maldives’ incoming President Mohamed Muizzu has said the country intends to be “fully independent” and Indian military personnel stationed on the island nation need to leave.

Around 70 Indian military personnel maintain radar stations and surveillance aircraft, and Indian warships help patrol Maldives’ exclusive economic zone. Muizzu said he has begun negotiations with India.

In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg TV, Muizzu, the recently elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago, stated, “It happens to be Indian foreign military presence here.” He went on to say that if the troops were from any other nation, he would have responded in the same way.

Radar installations and surveillance planes supported by New Delhi are maintained by around seventy Indian military personnel. Maldivian warships assist in policing the country’s exclusive economic zone.

In order to remove India’s military presence, Muizzu claimed he has already started discussions with that country, describing them as “very successful already.”

Muizzu said, “We want a bilateral relationship that is mutually beneficial,” and he added that foreign forces would not take the position of Indian soldiers. It in no way means “that I’m going to allow China or any other country to bring their military troops here,” he added, requesting that India remove its military personnel.

With Muizzu’s victory, China and India are now vying for control of the strategically important Indian Ocean. Governments after one another have leaned either way towards China or India. In an effort to compete with one another, both Asian giants have made significant investments in the Maldives, including loans and infrastructural upgrades.

In an effort to weaken Beijing’s growing assertiveness and confidence, the US and its allies, including Australia and Japan, have made significant investments in bolstering New Delhi’s position as an important regional counterbalance and ally in Asia. That appeared to be fruitful as Solih, Muizzu’s predecessor, led the nation towards closer ties with India.

Now, Muizzu vows to reverse course by withdrawing Indian soldiers and resolving the unfavourable trade imbalance with the neighbouring country in South Asia.

Dismissing the idea that the elections were a vote on deeper ties with either China or India, Muizzu declared, “We want assistance, cooperation with all the countries.”

The 45-year-old engineer, who was formerly the housing minister and now serves as mayor of Male, the nation’s capital, heads a party that welcomed Chinese assistance and implemented a broad crackdown on dissent during its brief five-year rule. Scattered among 187 inhabited islands, the country of little over 500,000 inhabitants is both a popular tourist destination and a front-runner in the fight against climate change. Additionally, the archipelago is situated near active maritime lanes in the Indian Ocean.

For its part, India, which has historically served as a regional power, says it plans to cooperate with the newly elected Maldivian administration, even as it closely monitors Muizzu’s actions.

“We look forward to constructively engaging with the incoming administration and discussing ways to enhance our relationship further,” Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters last week.

Reiterating India’s support for the country, Bagchi stated that in the previous five years, India had performed 500 medical evacuations, saving the lives of 523 Maldivians.

In order to stabilise the island nation’s economy, India gave the Maldives a $1.4 billion financial package in 2018. Later, the country gave $500 million to construct causeways and bridges that would connect Male to other islands in 2020.

The incoming president of the Maldives says he plans to collaborate closely with every nation. According to Muizzu, the island nation in the Indian Ocean is too small to be involved in a “geopolitical rivalry between bigger nations.”

“Maldives first,” declared Muizzu, who will assume government on November 15. “That’s, I think, something that can be easily understood.”

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