Maldives says India to withdraw troops from March
India will start withdrawing its troops deployed in the Maldives from next month, Male’s foreign ministry said after talks.
New Delhi considers the strategically located Indian Ocean archipelago — which straddles key global shipping lanes — within its sphere of influence.
But the Maldives has shifted into the orbit of China with September’s election of new President Mohamed Muizzu, who demanded the Indian troops leave.
Male’s foreign ministry said New Delhi had agreed at talks in the Indian capital to start pulling out its 89 personnel by March 10 and complete the process within two months.
The troops are deployed to operate three Indian-donated maritime reconnaissance aircraft, two helicopters, and a fixed-wing plane, which have also been used for medical evacuations from remote islets scattered for some 800 km across the equator.
The Maldivian foreign ministry statement said that the two sides had “reviewed” their cooperation to ” enhance” their partnership in defense, security, and other fields.
However, the Indian government’s statement at the meeting did not explicitly reference any withdrawal.
The two had “agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac services to the people of Maldives,” New Delhi’s foreign ministry said.
Official sources in the Maldives said it was likely that the aircraft would remain in the nation of 1,192 coral islands but could be operated by civilian Indian staff.
In another development, the Maldives defense ministry accused India’s coastguard of entering its exclusive economic zone and harassing fishermen in three Maldivian trawlers.
The defense ministry called for an “explanation” from New Delhi after coastguard personnel boarded the three boats on Wednesday.
The incident came as Indian celebrities urged compatriots to boycott the island nation and instead book their next holidays closer to home.
Tourism accounts for nearly a third of the Maldives’s economy, with Indians making up the largest share of foreign arrivals.