The Maldivian president’s office released a statement stating that his nation “hopes that India will honour the democratic will of the people”. Muizzu made the request earlier in the day when he met with Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju in Malé.
One day after Muizzu took the oath of office as president of the Maldives, he requested that Indian troops be removed from the island nation. Following his resignation as Malé’s mayor, 45-year-old engineer Muizzu became the nation’s eighth president of the archipelago.
At Muizzu’s Friday inauguration ceremony, Rijiju and other South Asian ministers represented the nation. The president of the Maldives, Muizzu, met with Rijiju shortly after his inauguration, and according to his office, they discussed “various projects in Maldives with the support of India” during their meeting.
“During the meeting with Rijiju, the President underscored the significance of expediting the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP) and underlined the need to tackle and resolve the obstacles impeding the project’s progress,” the statement read.
One of the issues that needs to be resolved, according to Muizzu, is the withdrawal of Indian troops from the Maldives. This was stated during the election campaign.
In the meantime, Kiren Rijiju strengthened the nation’s relations with the Maldives on X, the former Twitter.
Muizzu declared shortly after the Friday oath-taking that he was determined to keep his nation “free” of any “foreign military presence” to protect its independence and sovereignty. He did not, however, mention any nation in his inaugural speech.
Bangalore, Sri Lanka —
One day after taking office on Saturday, President Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives formally requested that India remove its military forces from the archipelago.
Muizzu made the request when he met India’s minister of earth sciences, Kiren Rijiju, who was in the Maldives for the president’s inauguration, according to a statement from the president’s office.
Muizzu, who is seen as being pro-Chinese, ran on a platform of vowing to remove Indian military personnel and balance trade, which he claimed was heavily biased towards India under Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration.
The election was perceived as a virtual referendum on which regional power, China or India, ought to have the greatest sway over the archipelago of the Indian Ocean. Situated strategically on the shipping route connecting east and west, the islands of the Maldives are a target for competition between China and India, the closest neighbour.
It is unknown how many Indian soldiers are stationed in the Maldives. Critics claim that rumours and mistrust have been stoked by the agreement’s secrecy between India and Solih’s government about the quantity and role of Indian military personnel. It is well known that the Indian military operates two helicopters that it has donated to help with search and rescue efforts for individuals who are stranded or experiencing disasters at sea.
Ibrahim Khaleel, the Maldives’ minister of strategic communications, told The Associated Press that the president will have to ask officials after the weekend how many Indian troops are there.
He said that the Maldives was hoping the withdrawal would happen soon and that the talks had been friendly.
During his presidency from 2013 to 2018, Muizz’s ally, former President Abdulla Yameen, included the Maldives in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The goal of the development programme is to connect China’s influence and trade throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe by constructing ports, railroads, and highways.
