The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Two weeks after their first meeting, Indian and Maldivian senior officials have reached an understanding that India will “replace” Indian military personnel who are operating one Dornier plane and two helicopters in the Indian ocean island nation.
The second meeting of the core group that was to decide on the fate of the Indian military personnel was held in New Delhi on Friday, February 2.
After the meeting, the Maldivian foreign ministry issued a statement: “Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by 10 March 2024, and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by 10 May 2024.”
The Indian external affair’s readout did not give the details. It only stated that both countries had “agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives”.
The statement from the Maldivian foreign ministry does not provide clarity on whether the Indian military will be replaced by civilians, who could even be ex-servicemen. However, it is certainly clear that the Dornier and two helicopters gifted by India would remain in Maldives.
This is a rather positive outcome for Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu who had asked India to withdraw all its military personnel operating the three aircraft in by March 15.
Muizzu’s successful campaign in the Presidential polls was largely based on the opposition’s ‘India Out’ campaign. Began in 2020 by former president Abdulla Yameen, the ‘India Out’ campaign aimed to corner the ruling Solih administration for his close links to New Delhi by claiming that presence of Indian military personnel was a violation of Maldivian sovereignty.
One day after taking the oath of office, President Mohamed Muizzu of Maldives officially requested India to withdraw its troops from the country. When he met with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Dubai, both argeed to set up a committee of officials to discuss the demand.
When Muizzu gave the ultimatum of March 15 at the first meeting of the committee last month, it was clear that Maldives did not want India to drag the issue.
With Maldives set to go for parliamentary elections next month, the prospect of an imminent removal of Indian military troops will certainly boost his party’s election hopes. Currently, Muizzu is facing difficulties in getting his ministers endorsed from the MDP-dominated parliament.