New Delhi: India will replace its military personnel in Male in a phased manner, according to a press release issued by the Maldivian government after the conclusion of the second India-Maldives High Level Core group meeting held in Delhi on Friday.
"Both sides agreed that the Indian government will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms by March 10th and the other two by May 10th," said the Maldivian government.
There is no clarity on whether these Indian military personnel will be replaced by civilian operators or by a fresh lot of military personnel.
"It is a work in progress, that's why there will be a third meeting in Male to take this further. There isn’t much that will change for now," said a source.
India and Maldives are working on a solution wherein aviation operations can continue. The third meeting of this group will be held in Male during the last week of February.
During the second meeting of the India-Maldives High level core group, which was held in Delhi on Friday, both sides agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions.
"The mutually workable solutions will enable continued operations of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives," said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
During the meeting, which comprised diplomats and military officials from both countries, discussions ranged on bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership which includes expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects.
The third meeting will be held at a mutually convenient date in Male during the last week of February. The first meeting of this core group was held on January 14th in Male.
It may be recalled that the newly elected President, Mohamed Muizzu, on the second day after taking the oath had said that Indian military personnel had to head back to India. The momentum built up after he returned from his official visit to China and he gave a deadline of March 15th for them to withdraw.
The 88 Indian military personnel are attached with one helicopter and two Dornier aircraft that are being used for humanitarian and medvac facilities in Maldives. Last month, a teenage boy had passed away due to delay in clearance by the Maldivian authorities for him to be airlifted. Following this incident, President Muizzu asked for a revision of the protocol.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of political turmoil in Maldives as the opposition had collected signatures to impeach the President. There were fistfights and ugly scenes inside the Maldivian Parliament (Majlis) last week.
Eyebrows have also been raised over a Chinese vessel being docked in Maldivian waters. A former Maldivian diplomat, Mohamad Faisal, had two days back spoken about the dangers of the Chinese vessel as it was posing a security threat as they could access all data in Maldivian waters.
