What are Indian troops doing in the Maldives? Why will they withdraw by 15 March?

India and the Maldives are no longer the allies they used to be. Under Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, things are changing drastically. Nearly two months after Male sought the removal of Indian military personnel from the island nation, a deadline has been set. By 15 March, Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its military personnel from his country, a senior official said on Sunday.

The latest development comes after the president’s high-profile visit to China and amid a low-key diplomatic row with New Delhi, which was triggered following Maldivian ministers’ unsavoury remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India after he visited Lakshadweep.

In a media briefing on Sunday, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the Maldivian president’s office, said that President Muizzu has formally asked India to withdraw its military personnel by 15 March, the SunOnline newspaper reported.

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

We take a look at the presence of Indian troops on the island nation and why the new regime wants them out.

How many Indian troops are in the Maldives?

India does not have a large military presence in the Maldives contrary to claims by “India Out” protesters that thousands of Indian troops were stationed.

There are 88 Indian military personnel in the neighbouring nation, according to the latest government figures. They have been based there for more than a decade.

What are Indian troops doing in the Maldives?

New Delhi and Male have been allies and defence cooperation has been a crucial part of the relationship. Indian soldiers have been training Maldivian troops in combat and reconnaissance and helping in rescue operations.

According to the terms of the bilateral agreement between the two nations, Indian officers were sent to train the Maldivian National Defence Force.

“They [the Indian troops] are unarmed and mostly assist the Maldivian government with search and evacuation operations, (and) with medical evacuation operations,” Safaath Ahmed, a former spokesperson for the Maldivian foreign affairs ministry, told ThePrint during an interaction.

Army soldiers patrol a street before Friday prayers in Male. Indian soldiers have been sent to the Maldives to train their counterparts. File photo/Reuters

According to Ahmed, from January 2019 until late 2023, 495 lives have been saved because of medical evacuations and special training conducted by the Indian personnel in the Maldives with the help of two helicopters gifted by New Delhi, ThePrint reports. At least 50 joint search and rescue missions have been conducted.

Have Indian troops conducted military ops in the Maldives?

Yes, Indian troops conducted one military operation in the Maldives in November 1998 called “Operation Cactus”.

Back then, a group of Maldivians led by businessman Abdullah Luthufi attempted a coup to overthrow the government of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. They had the backing of Sri Lanka’s People’s Liberation  Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a Tamil secessionist group.

At least 80 mercenaries of the group entered Male on 3 November 1988 on board a hijacked Sri Lankan fighter. They captured key infrastructure – airports, ports, television and radio stations. While Gayoom was escorted to a safe house, the mercenaries took several hostages including ministers.

With ‘Operation Cactus’, the Indian military came to the rescue of the Maldives and averted a crisis in the Indian Ocean region. File photo/Reuters

As the situation escalated in the Maldives, India’s chief of army staff General VN Sharma got a call from the foreign service officer at the Prime Minister’s Office. He asked if the Indian army could help as there was an emergency in the Maldives.

Sharma agreed and India’s three armed forces – the army, navy, and air force came to the rescue of the neighbour. Two hostages were among 19 killed during Operation Cactus. The rest of the casualties were mercenaries.

India, thus, helped in thwarting a major political crisis in the Indian Ocean Region.

Why does the Maldives want Indian troops out now?

In 2013, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of the Progressive Party (PPM) came to power. He held a pro-China stance and the discontentment toward India began. However, it was in 2020 that the “India Out” campaign started gathering steam in the Maldives.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the controversy started after two Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters were given by India to the Maldives in 2010 and 2015. These were used for search and rescue ops, maritime weather surveillance and for airlifting patients. However, some in PPM hinted that India was attempting to create a military presence in the island nation as these were military choppers.

The other causes of concern are the perceived lack of transparency in dealings with India under the rule of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and the reliance on India for maritime security.

A Progressive Party of Maldives worker poses with an ‘India Out’ flag in Male, Maldives, in March 2022. File photo/Reuters

According to Maldivian history expert Rasheeda M Didi, who wrote for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 2022, the Maldives’ new policy academy built with India’s help, which houses the National College of Policing and Law Enforcement, is another flashpoint. Rumour has it that the academy is a haven for Indians and their families and is an “opportune place to bring more Indians into the country”. “This conjecture, however, is unfounded,” she wrote, the report says.

Some reports in the Maldivian media have speculated that the UTF Harbour Project would be turned into an Indian naval base. However, the then Maldivian chief of defence forces Major-General Abdulla Shamaal had clarified that India had no such plans and the Indian government indicated that it would only provide grant assistance for the project near Male, reports The Indian Express.

Ahmed, the former spokesperson of the Maldivian foreign ministry told ThePrint that there was a lot of disinformation regarding Indian troops in the country. “India is a strategic ally, with a very small military presence, which was disclosed by President Solih’s administration. But there was huge disinformation surrounding this subject and activists, who were opposition activists at the time, kept claiming that there were thousands of (Indian) military personnel.”

What does President Muizzu want?

Muizzu is a pro-China leader and wants Indian troops to leave the country. This was among the pre-poll promises he made during his campaign. His main theme was about an alleged threat to the Maldives’ sovereignty by some Indian military personnel on an island, part of his party’s years-long “India out” strategy.

He told Bloomberg that he intends to make his nation “fully independent” and that Maldives “wants a bilateral relationship that’s mutually beneficial”.

Maldivian president Mohamed Muizzu has asked India to withdraw its military troops from the island nation by 15 March. File photo/PTI

After his just-concluded visit to China, President Muizzu, announced plans to reduce the country’s dependency on India, including securing imports of essential food commodities and medicine and consumables from other countries. “We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state,” he told the media.

Male is also reportedly reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi signed by the previous government, reports News18.

What happens next?

A high-level core group to negotiate the withdrawal of troops held its first meeting at the foreign ministry headquarters in Male on Sunday morning. The meeting was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, the report said.

India’s External Affairs Ministry said that both sides held discussions on wide-ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership, including expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects.

“Both sides also held discussions on finding mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives. It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the High Level Core Group in India on a mutually convenient date,” it added.

With inputs from agencies