Maldives sets deadline for Indian troops' withdrawal by March 15

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) — The Maldives has asked India to withdraw its troops from the island nation by March 15, a senior official said on Sunday.

This was revealed in a news conference on Sunday by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu's public policy secretary Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim.

A total of 88 Indian military personnel are present in the Maldives, according to Sun News, a news website based in the capital Male, citing government figures.

Male put up the demand to India after Muizzu was elected president of the country, located in the Indian Ocean, late last year.

Officials from the Maldives and India, including New Delhi’s top diplomat in Male, Munu Mahawar, were holding negotiations on Sunday in Male on the withdrawal of Indian troops, Ibrahim said.

“Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration,” said the presidential secretary.

After returning from a five-day trip to China, Muizzu told a news conference on Saturday that the Maldives was not "any one particular country’s backyard."

“We are an independent and sovereign country,” he replied to questions by reporters at Velana International Airport.

“We might be a small country, but that does not give you the license to bully us,” Muizzu asserted.