New Delhi: Reaffirming a position he articulated after being elected the country’s head, incoming Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has said Indian troops stationed in the island-nation would have to leave, Bloomberg reported. In what is being seen as a setback to New Delhi’s efforts to exercise its own sway in the island-nation amid growing Chinese influence, President-elect Muizzu was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Maldives intends to be “fully independent”.
During an acrimonious campaign for the Presidential polls earlier, Muizzu, who represents the Progressive Party of Maldives, accused his predecessor Ibrahim Solih of allowing India to exercise unbridled sway over the country, Bloomberg noted in its report.
Muizzu had alleged that Solih compromised on the country’s sovereignty by letting India deploy its troops in the region.
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In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the incoming President of the island country said, “It happens to be Indian foreign military presence here.”
However, he added that he would have similarly opposed military presence by any other country.
Calling the ongoing talks with India on reducing its military presence in the country as “very successful already”, the President-elect said, “We want a bilateral relationship (with India) that’s mutually beneficial.
According to Bloomberg, India has deployed about 70 military personnel in the island nation to maintain its “sponsored radar stations and surveillance aircraft”. Indian warships are also anchored off Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, and help the country patrol its exclusive economic zone, according to the report.
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President-elect Muizzu affirmed, however, asking India to reduce its military presence in the country doesn’t mean that he would “allow China or any other country to bring their military troops there.”
Dismissing the notion that the presidential polls featuring him against Solih was a people’s referendum on whether the country would lean towards India or China going forward, the President-elect told Bloomberg TV, “We want assistance, cooperation with all the countries.”