NEW DELHI: Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu on Friday claimed that the island nation has a really sturdy bilateral relationship with India and he’s planning to go to India as quickly as doable.
“I’m planning to go to (India) as quickly as doable. We’ve a really sturdy bilateral relationship,” Muizzu mentioned.
A number of media studies indicated that Muizzu might go to India in mid October.
Muizzu final got here to New Delhi to take part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in on June 9 together with leaders of six different regional international locations.
Earlier, Muizzu mentioned that Maldives has no points with India, however the individuals of Maldives don’t want any overseas army presence within the nation.
Talking at Princeton College on the sidelines of his ongoing journey to the USA to take part within the United Nations (UN) Common Meeting, Muizzu detailed that the difficulty was a overseas army presence within the nation.
“Even one overseas army personnel in Maldives will not be one thing the Maldivian individuals settle for. However being them coming from India does not imply we’re towards India,” Muizzu mentioned including that had the officers been from another nation, the objection would nonetheless have been the identical
The connection between India and the Maldives has been strained since Muizzu’s administration took workplace in November 2023.
His marketing campaign included an “India-out” stance, which known as for the withdrawal of Indian army personnel from the Maldives. This demand was shortly acted upon, resulting in the substitute of Indian army presence with civilian personnel. Tensions escalated additional when derogatory remarks towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been made by Maldivian officers, prompting backlash and the suspension of these concerned.
