New Delhi, Male review withdrawal of Indian military personnel from Maldives

New Delhi, March 17

India and the Maldives on Sunday reviewed the ongoing process of replacing Indian military personnel from the island nation with Male saying the second group will leave by April 10.

The two sides held the third meeting of the bilateral high-level core group in Male, days after India withdrew the first team of military personnel that was operating an advanced light helicopter in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The military team has been replaced by civilian technical experts. The Indian personnel are operating three aviation platforms in the Maldives and New Delhi is now deploying civilian personnel to operate them.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu had set March 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his country.

“During the meeting, both sides reviewed the ongoing deputation of Indian technical personnel to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac (medical evacuation) services to the people of Maldives,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

It said both sides continued their discussions on wide-ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation.

“This inter alia included expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects through regular convening of joint monitoring mechanisms, efforts to boost bilateral trade and investment and enhancing people-to-people linkages through capacity building and travel,” the MEA said.

The Maldivian foreign ministry said both sides noted the progress that has been made in replacing Indian military personnel with civilians at the aviation platforms in the Maldives.

“To date, military personnel in one such platform have been replaced with civilians, and the remaining two will be replaced by civilians on April 10 and May 10,” it said.