According to local media on Tuesday, India has started withdrawing military troops who were piloting surveillance aircraft in the Maldives, after an order from the new pro-China President. 25 Indian personnel stationed in the southernmost atoll of Addu left the archipelago before 10 March, in accordance with the mutually agreed-upon start of the departure procedure, according to the Mihaaru, a news source in the Maldives.
Upon taking office in September of last year, President Mohamed Muizzu made a commitment to eliminate Indian security forces tasked with keeping an eye on the Maldives’ vast maritime border.
Following negotiations with New Delhi, both sides decided that by May 10th, 89 Indian troops and the people who supported them would be completely removed from the chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands. India had consented to withdraw its troops from the Maldives on the understanding that they would bring in enough civilians to man the aircraft in lieu of military personnel.
Riding to power on an anti-Indian platform last year, Muizzu demanded within hours of assuming office that India withdraw its personnel from the strategically important archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean.
Additionally, India shipped a brand-new helicopter and moved the outdated model that was being repaired in Addu City. On February 29, a ship containing the new helicopter berthed in Addu. President Muizzu requested that India remove 89 military troops from the Maldives, and India consented to do so while also continuing to use the two helicopters and one Dornier aircraft that the nation had loaned it for the purpose of providing medical and humanitarian evacuation services.
The Maldives are strategically important due to their close proximity to India—just 70 nautical miles separates them from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles separates them from the western coast of the mainland—and their strategic placement at the intersection of commercial sea lanes that traverse the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
