Indian civilian team reaches Maldives to replace Army
Civilian team will operate & maintain 3 aviation platforms
Ahead of the March 10 deadline for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel in the Maldives, an Indian civilian team has reached here to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation, local media reports said on Wednesday.
“The civilian team to operate and maintain the aircraft has now arrived in Maldives. The Indian civilian team arrived in Addu early last night to complete the handover/takeover process,” a news portal themaldivesjournal.com said, quoting a statement by the Maldives Defence Ministry.
After a high-level meeting in Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, the Maldivian foreign ministry said India will replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10 and the first phase of the process would be completed by March 10.
It is learnt that the Indian military personnel are expected to be replaced by civilians who have expertise in operating the three platforms. There are 88 military personnel manning the three Indian platforms that have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years using two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.
The development comes days after Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, in his maiden address to Parliament on February 5 announced that the first group of Indian military personnel will be sent back from the island nation before March 10. The remaining Indians manning the two aviation platforms will be withdrawn by May 10.
On Wednesday, the news portal also said, test flights will be held today (Wednesday), before the helicopter is taken to India for repairs. An Indian ship will dock in Addu on the 28th of this month carrying the replacement helicopter.
Further quoting the Defence Ministry statement, it said, the Indian troops will withdraw from the Maldives on the dates agreed upon by the two countries.
After the latest round of bilateral talks, India said on February 2 that a “set of mutually workable solutions” was agreed upon with the Maldives for continuing the operations of Indian aviation platforms in the island nation.
