After push for troop withdrawal, Muizzu says India ‘closest ally’, requests debt relief

News Snapshot:

After his anti-India rhetoric, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has struck a reconciliatory tone, saying India will continue to remain his country’s “closest ally” and urged New Delhi to provide debt relief to the archipelago nation. The Maldives owed approximately USD 400.9 million to India by the end of last year. Ever since he took oath as the president in November last year, the pro-China Maldivian leader has pursued a hardline stand towards India and within hours had demanded that Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms be repatriated from his country by May 10. On Thursday, in his first interview...