{"id":47847,"date":"2024-01-14T16:37:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T16:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/maldives-tells-india-to-withdraw-troops-by-march-as-row-deepens-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-14T16:37:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T16:37:11","slug":"maldives-tells-india-to-withdraw-troops-by-march-as-row-deepens-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/maldives-tells-india-to-withdraw-troops-by-march-as-row-deepens-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Maldives tells India to withdraw troops by March as row deepens | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Maldivian president told India Sunday to withdraw its nearly 100 troops by March 15, a day after returning from China where he signed a raft of deals.<\/p>\n

New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence but the country has shifted to China’s orbit, the Maldives’s largest external creditor.<\/p>\n

The March deadline was set during talks with Indian officials in the Maldives on Sunday, a top aide to President Mohamed Muizzu said, honouring the leader’s long-standing election pledge.<\/p>\n

“The president put forth this request at the meeting of the high-level committee between the two nations… the proposal is currently under consideration,” Muizzu’s Public Policy Secretary Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim told reporters.<\/p>\n

India has a deployment of about 89 personnel, including medical staff, to operate three aircraft to patrol the archipelago’s vast maritime territory.<\/p>\n

Muizzu came to power in September after pledging to evict Indian forces.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, after arriving in the capital Male, the president said that while the Maldives may be small, the country will not be bullied.<\/p>\n

“We are not a country that is in the backyard of another country. We are an independent nation,” Muizzu said.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0Maldives upgrades ties with China amid pivot from India<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“This territorial integrity policy is one that China respects”, he said in the nation’s Dhivehi language, the Mihaaru newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

With Beijing and New Delhi tussling for influence, Muizzu was elected in September after pledging to cultivate “strong ties” with China.<\/p>\n

“We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us,” Muizzu said, in a final comment in English.<\/p>\n

He has denied seeking to redraw the regional balance by bringing in Chinese forces to replace Indian troops.<\/p>\n

Muizzu’s trip to China this week was his first state visit since becoming president.<\/p>\n

China’s state broadcaster CCTV said deals included “infrastructure construction, medical care and health care, improvement of people’s livelihoods, new energy sources, agriculture and marine environmental protection” agreements.<\/p>\n

Tensions with New Delhi flared after three of Muizzu’s junior ministers reportedly called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “clown” and a “terrorist” in since-deleted social media posts earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0India-Maldives row escalates, agency suspends flight bookings to islands<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bollywood actors and some of India’s cricket greats responded with calls for compatriots to boycott their southern neighbour and instead book their next holidays closer to home.<\/p>\n

Tourism accounts for nearly a third of the Maldives’s economy, with Indians making up the largest share of foreign arrivals.<\/p>\n

Muizzu said the Maldives will also slash reliance on India for healthcare and medicine, adding more countries where citizens needing government-paid health treatment abroad can go.<\/p>\n

Most eligible citizens currently get treatment in India, as well as small numbers in Sri Lanka and Thailand, officials said.<\/p>\n

But Muizzu said the government would “diminish reliance on… a select group of countries”, without specifically mentioning India, and would now support treatment also in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

Most pharmaceuticals in the Maldives are currently imported from India, and Male will now seek to import medicines from the United States and European nations, he said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Muizzu, the former capital’s mayor, suffered his first electoral setback as his party’s candidate lost the vote to replace him.<\/p>\n

Adam Azim of the former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which is seen as more pro-Indian, won the seat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n