New Delhi: India is in “no hurry” to withdraw its military personnel deployed in Maldives even though Malé has set a deadline of March 15. New Delhi is hopeful of settling the issue during the next round of the High Level Core Group meeting that will be held in India in the next couple of months, ABP LIVE has learnt. 

The deadline of March 15 was set by Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on January 14. However, India has said it has not been officially communicated about such a deadline, and neither did this figure during the talks being held between both countries at multiple levels. While Malé has raised the issue of complete withdrawal of Indian military personnel present in various islands of that country, New Delhi feels it can “convince” Maldives the significance of their presence, official sources told ABP LIVE.

According to the sources, the Indian military personnel, about 80 of whom are present in that country currently, are stationed there to maintain and operate the two choppers and a Dornier aircraft gifted to Maldives for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

The sources also said that even if the Indian military personnel impart training to the Maldivian forces to operate these platforms, time for that is too less, if the March deadline is to be followed. This was the main focus of discussions between both sides when the High Level Core Group met on January 14.

The High Level Core Group was established following a one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Muizzu in Dubai in December 2023 on the margins of the COP28 conference. Both the leaders had discussed the matter then.

It was recently taken up by Malé again during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in Kampala, Uganda.

Raji Rajagopalan, Director of the Centre for Security Strategy and Technology, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), told ABP LIVE: “It can be good if India can negotiate a deal with the Maldivian Government to continue the stationing of the Indian troops. But, it will be foolish to simply ignore the Muizzu government’s demand to get them out because it will simply create more resentment towards India. If they do not want the Indian troops there, we should simply get out. Another election there and things will be different.”

She added: “If they don’t want to maintain them, there is very little you can do about them. It is not your business at this stage when they want you to get out. And about HADR, their new-found friendship with China will be the provider.”

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Operation of Indian Platforms By Maldives

The Indian government is concerned that the Indian platforms that have been gifted to Maldives by New Delhi might fall into the Chinese hands once Indian troops leave that country. Therefore, India has told Maldives that it wants “assurance” from them on the safety of these platforms.

Apart from this, India wants its troops to be stationed there for safeguarding some of the big-ticket infrastructure projects that New Delhi is carrying out in Maldives.

“We remain committed to our projects to take them forward. We have been an important development partner of Maldives. We remain committed to doing all things that we can do as a development partner of Maldives, in keeping with their priorities,” Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said Thursday.

Jaiswal also said both India and Maldives held discussions on “finding mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac services to the people of Maldives”.

India is also involved in some of the big-ticket infrastructure projects, especially the ‘Greater Malé Connectivity Project’ (GMCP), touted to be the largest civilian infrastructure project in Maldives, connecting Male with three neighbouring islands — Villingili, Gulhifahu (where a port is being built under Indian LoC) and Thilafushi (new industrial zone) — by construction of a bridge-and-causeway link spanning 6.7 km.

Besides that, India is involved in the development of mega airports at Hanimaadhoo and Gan Islands. It is also building Maldives’ Gulhifalhu Port near the capital city, Malé.

The thriving bilateral ties suffered a body blow after President Muizzu came to power last year, who won the presidential elections there based on an anti-India campaign. Since coming to power, he has made it his government’s primary objective to remove the presence of the Indian military from that country.

Muizzu has also made it clear in a short span of time that his government will be more aligned with China, unlike his predecessor Ibrahim Solih, who followed an ‘India First’ policy. President Muizzu’s first official visit was to China. Both countries have now decided to establish China-Maldives Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership (2024-2028).

Earlier this month, both countries got engulfed into another controversy after PM Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep islands triggered a comparison between the Indian archipelago and Maldives as a tourist destination, and the social media debate turned ugly. Three Maldivian deputy ministers made controversial remarks against Modi and were suspended.