The second batch of Indian military personnel has left Maldives following the Maldivian government’s request for the withdrawal of Indian troops from Male.
Maldives and India had signed an agreement in February in which New Delhi agreed to replace the Indian military personnel in Maldives to oversee the operations of the military aircraft the country has gifted with trained civilians also from India.
President Muizzu made the announcement on Friday during an election campaign meeting. "The first team has already gone. Now, on April 9, the soldiers on the second platform have also been withdrawn," Muizzu said.
The development comes after Maldives signed a 'military assistance' agreement with China, coinciding with the departure of Indian forces.
The first batch of Indian military personnel was replaced by technical staff, as confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday. The turnaround of the first team of personnel who were operating the ALH helicopter has been completed, according to MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The second group of Indian military personnel who left the Maldives on April 9 were Indian soldiers who operated the Dornier aircraft.
"Adhadhu has confirmed from a reliable source that the group that left on April 9 included Indian soldiers based in Haa Dhaal Hanimaadhoo for Dornier flights. Civilian or technical personnel brought in their place have since arrived in Hanimaadhoo," news agency PTI reported.
However, the Maldives government has not officially disclosed any details on the latest withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the country.
Muizzu, who is widely seen as a pro-China leader and has been demanding the withdrawal of foreign soldiers from the Maldives had set March 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his country.
Muizzu also said the Indian soldiers on the last aviation platform would also leave the Maldives before the May 10 deadline set by him and that would mark the fulfilment of his pledge to remove Indian soldiers from the island nation.
"There is only one platform left. As the two countries have already signed, they [the remaining Indian military personnel] will also be recalled ahead of May 10. They will leave," he was quoted as saying by Edition.mv news portal on Saturday.
After Muizzu came to power in November last year, relations between Maldives and India have deteriorated. He has maintained close ties with China and had also travelled to there in January and met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
China and the Maldives recently signed a defense cooperation agreement and several other infrastructure development projects.
Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbor in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and occupies a special place in its initiatives like ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the ‘Neighborhood First Policy’ of the Indian government.
(with PTI inputs)
