Maldives, India officials begin troop removal talks amid row

A "core group" formed between Maldives and India to resolve differences met for the first time on Sunday, a day after Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu hit out at India amid a diplomatic row with the island nation's closest neighbour.

President Muizzu met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of COP28 summit in December, and agreed to form a "core group" to enhance the relations between the two South Asian neighbours, governments of both countries had said at the time. 

The Indian delegation arrived at the foreign ministry around 9:30am.

According to reliable sources, India is represented at the meeting by:

Maldives is represented by:

The meeting is for bilateral talks, a foreign ministry official said. However, he did not give further details.

President Muizzu on Saturday hit out at India amid a diplomatic row with the island nation's closest neighbour saying that the small size of Maldives is not a "licence" for anybody to "bully" the country.

The president indirectly responded to the strained relations between Maldives and India when he met reporters at the Velana International Airport (VIA) after returning from his first state visit, which was made to India's rival China.

In his statement, after announcing that he is looking for alternatives on a lot of things Maldives currently heavily relies on India for, he concluded his speech by saying in English, “We may be small, but that doesn't give you the license to bully us."

The president's remarks, even though he did not mention India by name, was to address the several threats being made against Maldivians and the country itself, after the social dispute that arose recently.

In the half-hour statement, the president outlined the decisions taken during his visit to China and highlighted the main principles of close relations with China. Although he did not mention India, he gave indirect responses to the country.

Maldives has long relied on India to air lift patients from outer atolls to capital Male and import essential commodities like medicines and food staples. However, the president said on Saturday that he would end reliance on a particular country. He said:

"So, importing medicines from one specific country will hopefully come to an end... We will hopefully stand on our own feet and end dependence on a particular group of people," the president said after making all the announcements.

After revealing the agreements signed with China during his five-day visit and some of the issues discussed between the two countries, the president said the China-Maldives relationship is based on four main pillars:

Speaking on the foundations, the president said China and Maldives are very far apart geographically, and compared to Maldives, China is a powerful and large nation. However, he noted that both countries treat each other without discrimination and with equality.

"The size of the country or the distance between two nations should not warrant discrimination. That principle exists between Maldives and China," he said, without naming India.

Speaking on territorial integrity, the president said Maldives fully accepts and supports China's 'One China' policy. Similarly, China supports Maldives' territorial integrity, he said.

"We are a country with a huge economic zone, of 900,000 square kilometres, regardless of the small size of our islands. The Maldives has the largest share of a single country in this ocean. This is not the property of any particular country," he said.

"This ocean belongs to all the countries that surround it. And the area that doesn't belong to any one country is even bigger."

With that, the president said, Maldives is "not the backyard of any particular country". He reiterated his sentiment that this is an independent, sovereign country.

President Muizzu won the presidential election in September, ousting Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in a runoff after promising to remove Indian military presence from the Maldives.

The new government, which came to power on November 17, has formally requested India to remove its troops, with President Muizzu saying that India has agreed to withdraw the troops. 

Since then, a diplomatic row had erupted after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a video of his recent visit to Lakshadweep to promote tourism in the region.

Some Indians have said that Modi's video was released to tell people that Indians do not have to go to Maldives for holidays and can experience the beauty of Maldives while staying in their own country.

Authorities in Maldives have suspended three deputy ministers who have come under fire for their posts on X in which they are seen verbally abusing Modi and India.

The two countries have also summoned each other's envoys over the row.