Maldives President: Second batch of Indian soldiers leave the country

Mohamed Muizou set March 10 as the deadline for withdrawal.

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President Mohamed Muizu said a second batch of Indian military personnel, flying helicopters gifted by India to the Maldives, had left the island nation at the request of the Maldives.

Pro-China leader Muizul also reiterated that foreign ambassadors in Male will not exercise power over him, stressing that ultimate power belongs to citizens.

Last month, he claimed that his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Saleh, was acting on the orders of a “foreign ambassador” without naming any country.

He announced the withdrawal of the second Indian military contingent from the Maldives while speaking at a campaign event for candidates of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 21.

Muizou, who had been calling for the withdrawal of foreign soldiers from the Maldives during last year’s campaign, said: “The first team has left. Now, on April 9, the soldiers on the second platform have also withdrawn.” As local media Said on Saturday.

Mr Muizzi has set March 10 as the deadline for the first batch of Indian military personnel to withdraw from the country.

Under a February deal between the Maldives and India, New Delhi agreed to replace Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives to oversee the operation of military aircraft provided by the country to the Maldives with trained civilians from India.

Muizhu also said the last Indian soldiers on the air platform would also leave the Maldives before his May 10 deadline, which would mark his fulfillment of a promise to withdraw Indian soldiers from the island nation.

“There is only one platform left. Since both countries have signed, they [the remaining Indian military personnel] “They will also be recalled before May 10. They will leave,” Edition.mv news portal quoted Mr Muizzu as saying on Saturday.

He did not provide a specific number of Indian military personnel leaving the Maldives in the second batch. He also did not clarify whether the soldiers had been replaced by trained Indian civilians.

Neither the Maldives Defense Ministry nor India have commented on the recent withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the Maldives.

According to the Maldivian government, 88 Indian soldiers are stationed in the Maldives, operating helicopters at Addu and Ramkadu islands and Dornier aircraft at Hanima Addu. The number also includes doctors at Senahiya Military Hospital, local media reported.

The first batch of Indian soldiers left the Maldives on March 11. The Ministry of Defense said that 26 soldiers stationed at Addu were replaced by 26 Indian civilians. India also replaced Adu’s old helicopters.

Relations between the Maldives and India have deteriorated since Muizzi came to power in November, but relations with China have remained closer. He also visited China in January and met with China’s top leaders, including President Xi Jinping.

China and the Maldives recently signed a defense cooperation agreement and several other infrastructure development projects.

The Maldives is India’s major maritime neighbor in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and holds a special place in initiatives such as ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the Indian government’s ‘Neighborhood First Policy’.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)