New Delhi:India on Thursday cleared the air saying that military personnel deployed in the Maldives to operate and maintain two helicopters and an aircraft used for medical evacuations and humanitarian missions will be replaced by competent Indian technical personnel.
This comes as New Delhi and Male are currently engaged in talks regarding the withdrawal of military troops from the island nation following President Muizzu's demand to remove the Indian troops by March 15. Giving details regarding the same, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “I would like to say that the present personnel will be replaced by competent Indian technical personnel".
Following the second core committee meeting between India and Male, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry said that both sides agreed on a common withdrawal date and added India would begin withdrawing troops from the Maldives on March 10 and complete the process by withdrawing from all three aviation platforms by May 10.
In contrast to Maldives' claim, Delhi said that both sides agreed on a set of solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac services to the people of Maldives.
There are around 77 Indian military personnel in Maldives primarily to operate two advanced light helicopters and an aircraft that have carried out several humanitarian missions. The Indian platforms have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years.
The relationship between India and Male hit the lowest after a few Maldivian ministers posted derogatory remarks against India and PM Modi after his Lakshadweep visit. This triggered a major uproar in the international community, where the Maldivian side had to release a clarification statement.
Further, in response to a question on India's budget allocation to Maldives which has seen a drop than the previous year, an MEA spokesperson said, "India is committed to its development partnership with the Maldives. He noted that the budgetary allocation for the Maldives in the outlay for the external affairs ministry in the budget for 2024-25 was ₹779 crore, up from the ₹600 crore projected earlier".
We remain an important, committed development partner for the Maldives,” he said.
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