Prez Muizzu asks India to withdraw military personnel from Maldives, but agrees to discuss ‘workable solutions’

President Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives on Saturday formally asked India to withdraw all its military personnel from the archipelago.

He, however, refrained from setting any deadline for New Delhi to withdraw the military personnel, who were deployed in the Maldives to operate the aircraft provided by India for medical evacuation as well as for countering narcotics trafficking. A source in New Delhi said that the two sides had agreed to discuss “workable solutions” to continue the use of the aircraft gifted by India to the Maldives, in the interest of the people of the Indian Ocean archipelago itself.

Muizzu formally conveyed to New Delhi his ‘request’ for the withdrawal of India’s military personnel from the Maldives on Saturday. He had a meeting with India’s minister of earth sciences, Kiren Rijiju, who had represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ceremony held in Malé to administer the oath of office to the new president of the Maldives on Friday.

Malé asked New Delhi to withdraw military personnel amid concerns in India over the possibility of its strategic rival China taking advantage of the change of government in the Maldives and once again using the archipelago for its continuing effort to expand its geopolitical influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Muizzu “formally requested the Government of India to withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives”, according to a press release issued by the office of the president of the island nation after his meeting with Rijiju. He “noted that at the presidential election held in September, the Maldivian people had given him a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives”, added the press release issued in Malé.

Muizzu’s campaign for the presidential polls saw him opposing and promising to reverse his predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s ‘India First’ policy of treating India as a preferred partner for the Maldives. He vowed to start the process of removing all military personnel of India from Maldives immediately after taking oath.

The source in New Delhi said that Muizzu acknowledged during his meeting with Rijiju the contribution of the helicopters and the aircraft provided by India for the medical evacuation of citizens of the Maldives. He noted that they were also central to the efforts to provide confidence to international tourists while staying on the remote islands of his country. He appreciated their role in monitoring and combating drug trafficking.

The press release issued by the Government of the Maldives also noted that Muizzu had acknowledged the significant role of the two helicopters provided by India in carrying out numerous emergency medical evacuations from the archipelago.

Muizzu was a candidate of the Progressive Congress, a coalition of his own People’s National Congress (PNC) and the incarcerated former president Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s People’s Party of Maldives (PPM). He defeated incumbent president Solih of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) in a runoff on September 30.

Yameen, who was voted out in 2018, had led Maldives into a debt trap by awarding China’s state-owned companies lucrative contracts to build several infrastructure projects – mostly on unsustainable loan terms – ignoring the security interests of India. Though Beijing’s influence over Yameen's regime had resulted in strains in New Delhi’s relations with Malé, it saw a reset after Solih and former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed led the MDP to victory in the November 2018 elections.

Yameen, however, led an ‘India Out’ campaign over the past few years, setting a narrative against New Delhi. It helped him and Muizzu set the narrative against Solih’s India First policy during the campaign for the presidential polls, leading to the change in regime in Malé.

The “India Out” campaign gained momentum in Maldives after New Delhi on February 21, 2021, signed an agreement with the Solih Government to “develop, support and maintain” a harbour at Uthuru Thila Falhu naval base in the island nation. Though the new harbour is being built officially for the use of the Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard, it is also being seen as a strategic asset that could give India an edge over China, which has been trying to spread its tentacles in the Indian Ocean region.

The 2023 presidential elections saw the parties of Yameen and Muizzu campaigning that the naval facility the Solih Government allowed New Delhi to build would eventually be turned into India’s military base in the Maldives, thus undermining the sovereignty of the archipelago. Solih and his party countered it, claiming that the naval facility would rather enhance the capability of the Defence Forces of the Maldives in exercising jurisdiction and undertaking maritime surveillance of its exclusive economic zone and the islands.

Yameen and Muizzu have been criticising the Solih Government’s decision to keep the two Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters New Delhi gifted to Malé in 2010 and 2015, although the erstwhile Abdullah Yameen’s regime was keen to return both the choppers. India last year also completed the installation of a coastal radar system, comprising 10 radar stations, in the Maldives to help keep watch in the Indian Ocean.

Not only did the defence cooperation between the two nations expand over the past five years but India also announced, launched and completed several infrastructure projects in Maldives over the past few years to stop its drift towards China.