The government of Maldives has asked India to withdraw it’s military personnel from Maldivian land by March 15. There are some 88 Indian military personnel in Maldives.

According to local media reports, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has formally conveyed this to India.

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Addressing a press conference, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, the public policy secretary at the Maldivian President’s Office said, “Indian military personnel cannot stay in the Maldives. This is the policy of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and that of this administration.”

Soon after being elected as the president, Muizzu had asked India to withdraw it’s troops from the archipelagic state.

Following his request, both India and Maldives had formed a high-level committee to negotiate the withdrawal of troops.

Earlier today, the committee, according to the reports, held its first meeting at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Male.

During the meeting, which was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, Male formally gave New Delhi the mid-March deadline.

The development comes in the backdrop of a diplomatic row between India and Maldive over derogatory remarks against PM Modi by some of Muizzu government’s ministers.

It also came just days after Muizzu returned from China. The new Maldivian president is perceived to be pro-China.

Addressing a press conference at the Velana International Airport upon his return to Maldives from a five-day China visit, Muizzu said, “We may be small but this doesn’t give them the license to bully us.”

Without taking India’s name, the Maldivian leader further asserted that the Indian Ocean doesn’t belong to any “specific country” and that Maldives is one of the countries with “the biggest share.”

“Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 900,000 square kilometers. Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean,” he was quoted as saying by a local daily.