The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said the military personnel deployed in Maldives will be replaced by "competent Indian technical personnel". MEA's remarks comes after the second high-level meeting between India and Maldives last week.
Both nations has released conflicting press statements after the 'mutual agreement' reached in the meeting. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu said that the Indian troops will be withdrawn by May 10. However, MEA in its statement said, both sides "agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms" that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives.
"Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by March 10 and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by May 10," the Maldivian foreign ministry said.
While speaking to the media, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "I would like to say that the present personnel will be replaced by competent Indian technical personnel".
Jaiswal also added that a third meeting of the high-level core group will be held regarding the troops issue.
India has been exploring various options to retain its presence in Maldives. Though India is committed to its development partnership with the Maldives, the pro-China leader Muizzu has opted to end its dependence on India in crucial sector including defence.
Besides seeking Sri Lanka's assistance for medical evacuation services, Maldives had signed agreements with Turkey to procure wheat and drones to be used for maritime surveillance.
"We remain an important, committed development partner for the Maldives," said Jaiswal.
