India Maldives Issue: India and Maldives on Sunday reviewed the deployment of civilian personnel to replace Indian military personnel from the island nation and Male said the second group would leave by April 10. Both sides reviewed the situation in the third meeting of the high-level core group held in Male, focusing on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the island country.
The military team has been replaced by civilian technical experts. Indian personnel are operating 3 aviation platforms in the Maldives and New Delhi is now deploying civilian personnel to operate them. Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu had set March 10 as the deadline for the return of the first group of Indian military personnel from his country.
“During the meeting, both sides reviewed the ongoing deputation of Indian technical personnel for the continued operation of Indian helicopters providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The Maldives Foreign Ministry said both sides noted the progress made in replacing Indian military personnel with civilians on aviation platforms in the Maldives. “To date, military personnel on one such platform have been replaced with civilian personnel and the remaining will be replaced with civilian personnel on April 10 and May 10,” it said.
“This will, inter alia, include accelerating the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects through the regular holding of joint monitoring mechanisms, efforts to promote bilateral trade and investment, and capacity building,” the Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement. And enhancing relations between the people of the two countries through travel.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the High Level Core Group would be held in New Delhi at a mutually convenient date. After the second meeting of the high-level core group formed to resolve the issue of withdrawal of Indian military personnel, the Foreign Ministry of Maldives had said that India will replace all its military personnel with civilians in two phases by May 10.
The second meeting of the core group was held in Delhi on 2 February. Prime Minister at the COP-28 summit in Dubai in December Narendra Modi After a meeting between Maldives and Maldives President Muizzoo, both sides had decided to form a core group.
There has been some tension in relations between India and Maldives since Muizzu came to power in November. Muizzu, seen as a pro-China leader, said after taking charge as the country’s President that he would fulfill his election promise of expelling Indian military personnel from the country.