Civilians replaced 76 Indian military personnel to operate choppers, aircraft: Maldives
Male, May 11 (PTI) Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Moosa Zameer on Saturday said 76 Indian military personnel were replaced by civilian employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited which manufactured the two helicopters gifted by India, thus also ending the suspense over the exact number of those repatriated at the insistence of Male.
However, the Maldives government has no intention of removing the doctors from India at Senahiya, a media report said.
The Indian military personnel were stationed in the Maldives to operate two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft used primarily for medical evacuations. The last batch of Indian military personnel were repatriated by Friday, as per the May 10 deadline set following an agreement between the two countries in February in New Delhi.
That agreement was a result of the demand of pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu made within hours of his assuming office in November. Neither New Delhi nor Male has made public details of the agreement. Maldives has termed it as “classified.” Local media reports on Saturday quoted Zameer addressing a press conference a day after he returned from his first official visit to India, detailing the presence of Indian soldiers stationed in Hanimaadhoo, Kadhdhoo and Gan.
“As many as 26 soldiers withdrew from Gan between March 7 and March 9, while another 25 soldiers withdrew from Hanimaadhoo between April 7 and April 9, and 12 withdrew from Kadhdhoo on Tuesday. The final batch of 13 soldiers withdrew from Kadhdhoo on Thursday,” news portal Sun.mv reported, quoting Zameer as saying.
Civilian crew from India will leave in 2026, the report said.
The contract period for the 26-member crew in Gan will expire in February 2025. The contract period for the 25-member crew in Kadhdhoo will end in February 2025. The contract period for the 25-member crew in Hanimaadhoo will expire in February 2026, it said.
The Maldivian government had previously said that documents show there are 89 Indian soldiers in the Maldives, to operate two military helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.
Zameer said that it is the civilian employees of the company that manufactured the Indian-gifted helicopters, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that have come to replace the Indian military personnel.
News portal Adhadhu.mv quoted Zameer as saying, “There are doctors of the Indian Army who have been working in Senahiya military hospital since September 2012 and their assistance was requested by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).” “President Muizzu's intention is to remove them if their presence also affects (the country's) freedom, by requesting the Indian government, but there is no need for it at the moment,” he said.
Edition.mv, another news portal, said that the minister while addressing the concerns raised by many alleging that the military personnel still remained in Maldives but in civilian clothes, said: “Indian military was not here under any deception, were they? So there is no reason for us to have doubts when the Government of India has stated that these are civilians.” Minister of Defence Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon and Major General Ibrahim Hilmy, the chief of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) also addressed the press conference that was jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the MNDF.
Maumoon confirmed that the Maldives government had ensured that the people who had arrived to replace the Indian military personnel were, in fact, civilians.
“The command and control of the aircraft are now officially under the Defence Ministry and the MNDF,” Ghassan was quoted as saying by the Edition.mv.
The MNDF revealed that the Indian military personnel who were previously operating the helicopters gifted to the Maldives by the Indian government had made a trip on the helicopter without notifying the Maldivian military during the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Edition.mv said in another report.
The same report also quoted Maumoon as saying that this issue was raised in the Parliament's Committee on National Security Services when he had been serving in the committee in his earlier capacity as a Member of Parliament.
In that incident, the helicopter “landed in Thimarafushi,” Ghassan said, adding, “Such unauthorised flights could not have been conducted after this administration came into office.” Adhadhu.mv also reported that Maumoon confirmed that there are no Indian military personnel in the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) where the MNDF Coast Guard is building a port with Indian assistance.
Relations between India and Maldives deteriorated since Muizzu came to power in November last year after defeating Solih, seen as pro-India, even while the archipelagic nation maintained closer ties with China.
The president also travelled to China in January and met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping. Traditionally, India had been the first port of call for the newly-elected Maldivian heads.
When Zameer was in India on Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed to him that the development of India-Maldives ties is based on “mutual interests” and “reciprocal sensitivity.” The Maldivian foreign ministry said Jaishankar and Zameer discussed all aspects of the India-Maldives partnership to forge opportunities for future collaboration.
The Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour 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 ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ of the Indian government. PTI
