New Delhi: In a swapping of roles, the Maldives opposition cornered the Mohamed Muizzu government for not doing enough to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty after Indian forces boarded Maldivian boats. This happened even as the president announced in parliament that the Indian military will start to be “withdrawn” from the Indian ocean island nation on March 10 and end in two months.At the inauguration of the parliament on February 5, President Muizzu said that as per bilateral negotiations, Indian military personnel on “one of the three aviation platforms would be withdrawn before March 10, 2024, and the military personnel on the remaining two platforms would be withdrawn before May 10, 2024”.This is the first time that the Maldives has explicitly stated that Indian personnel would be “withdrawn,” departing from the earlier use of the ambiguous term “replace” by the foreign ministry.Muizzu claimed that the withdrawal of Indian military personnel had been one of the key reasons for his electoral victory in the presidential elections. It had been cornerstone of the then opposition’s ‘India Out’ campaign which began in 2020.He also stated that Maldives needs to “fortify its military capabilities across terrestrial, aerial, and maritime domains as part of a comprehensive defence strategy”.Muizzu claimed that Maldives was on the “verge of achieving round-the-clock surveillance capabilities over the nation’s 900,000-square-kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone”.His assertion came in background of the recent statement by the Maldives defence ministry that two Indian Coast Guard ships had boarded three Maldivian fishing boats in Maldives’ Exclusive Economic Zone last week. The Indian government has maintained silence over the incident.In the last few weeks, the president has had a tumultuous relationship with the parliament, where the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party and The Democrats have a majority. His speech at the opening of the session was boycotted by the opposition and attended by only 24 members of parliament.An MP of the Democrats party, Mohamed Waheed, submitted an emergency motion in parliament criticising the Maldivians government for not treating the alleged boarding of fishing boats by Indian security personnel with the “seriousness it deserves”. A day earlier, the former president Mohamed Solih had criticised the government for not being more forceful in its response.Calling for stronger action, the motion said the government had failed to protect Maldives’ territory. The motion was adopted for consideration by 54 votes. Notably, the MDP and the Democrats collectively hold 56 MPs in the Majlis.The ruling alliance, which ascended to power on a nationalism platform and previously accused the Solih administration and the MDP of compromising Maldivian sovereignty by permitting Indian military aircraft operations, found themselves confronted with similar allegations.An independent MP, who is usually aligned with the ruling alliance, Mohamed Nasheed Abdulla said that the Indian ambassador Munu Mahawar should have been summoned by the Maldives foreign ministry.As per media reports, Nasheed said during the debate on the motion that two major political parties were aligned to either India or China. He asserted that the ruling PNC/PPP coalition showed reluctance in criticising China, whereas the opposition MDP refrained from criticising India.Opposition MP Eva Abdulla contended that safeguarding borders with heavy weaponry was not a customary practice, especially in smaller nations like the Maldives.She underscored the importance of the Maldives resisting foreign pressure peacefully, while cautioning that any disruption in foreign policy harmony would negatively impact Maldivians. “Let me repeat this. We can only secure our borders, gain economic security, and any other security, through maintaining peaceful relations with our neighbours and other nations,” she said.
