India announced the agreement on a “set of mutually workable solutions” with the Maldives to sustain the operations of Indian aviation platforms in the island nation. This development followed Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s request for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country by March 15.
India To Replace Military Personnel In Maldives
India on Friday agreed to replace its military personnel running various aviation platforms in Maldives with non-uniformed civilians while Pakistan has assured the island country of support to address its “pressing development needs.” At present, around 80 Indian military personnel are in the Maldives primarily to operate two helicopters and an aircraft which carried out hundreds of medical evacuations and humanitarian missions.
The two sides agreed on “a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac (medical evacuation) services to the people of (the) Maldives”, according to a press release issued by the MEA of the GOI after the meeting. The two sides decided to set up the core group following a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December.
Though the Muizzu Government had initially stated that India had 77 military personnel in the Maldives, it later updated the count to 88. Most of them are deployed to operate and fly the Dornier aircraft and two ALH gifted by India to the Maldives for emergency evacuation of people from the remote islands. Muizzu’s campaign for the presidential polls in September 2023 saw him opposing and promising to reverse his predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s ‘India First’ policy of treating India as a preferred partner for the Maldives and lessening its reliance on China.
