Indian Ocean
Island nation Maldives has pressed for the withdrawal of Indian troops from
Male. Maldives foreign minister
MoosaZameer, in a meeting with his counterpart S Jaishankar on the margins of
the NAM summit in Ugandan capital Kampala, once again brought up the issue of
withdrawal of Indian forces from the Indian Ocean country.
Maldives
President Mohamed Muizzu has insisted on removal of Indian military personnel
and last week formally asked India to do so by March 15. The Indian side,
however, says talks are still on to find a "workable solution" to the
issue.
While
Jaishankar only said they had a frank conversation on India-Maldives ties,
MrZameer said in a post on X they exchanged views on the ongoing high-level
discussions on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel, as well as
expediting the completion of ongoing development projects in the Maldives, and
cooperation within SAARC and NAM. "We
are committed to further strengthening and expanding our cooperation," he
said.
The mention of
SAARC summit is also significant as South Asia group, which includes Pakistan,
remains dormant because of India's refusal to move ahead with the summit
process. India sees Pakistan's support to cross-border terrorism as negating
any progress under SAARC process.