New Delhi: After the Maldives gave a deadline of two months for a withdrawal, the issue of Indian military personnel stationed in the Indian Ocean island nation was discussed by the Indian and Maldivian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Uganda on Thursday.Presently, the two nations are engaged in discussions concerning the new Maldives government’s request for the withdrawal of all Indian military personnel serving as pilots and ground crew for two helicopters and an aircraft.Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, who arrived in Uganda on Thursday, tweeted that he had “frank” talks about bilateral issues with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer, but did not elaborate further.The Maldivian minister noted that that they “exchanged views on the ongoing high-level discussions on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel”.Writing that it was a “pleasure” to meet with Jaishankar, Zameer wrote that they also discussed completion of ongoing development projects in Maldives and cooperation within SAARC and NAM. “We are committed to further strengthening and expanding our cooperation,” he posted on his official X account.This was their first meeting since a new government under President Mohamed Muizzu took over in November last year.After being sworn in, Muizzu, who had campaigned for the removal of the Indian military during the presidential election, made a formal request for their withdrawal to New Delhi.After Muizzu’s meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Dubai, both sides announced that a group of senior officials will discuss the matter.The first meeting of the ‘core group’ was held in Malé on January 14, where Maldives laid down the deadline of March 15 for withdrawal of Indian security personnel. While Maldives talked about withdrawal, the Indian press note only referred to “mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms”.Last week, India had also summoned the Maldivian ambassador over the disparaging remarks made by Maldivian junior ministers against the Indian prime minister on social media. The three ministers were subsequently “suspended”.After returning from his state visit to China, the Maldivian president said that Maldives was “not in the backyard” of any country, targeting India without explicitly naming the South Asian giant.