Maldives Military Assumes Operational Control Of Helicopter And Civilian Crew From India: MNDF Official

Thursday, the Maldivian defense force said it would be in charge of the chopper that India gave to the island nation and the civilians who will be flying it.

Colonel Ahmed Mujuthaba Mohamed, the Principal Director of Plans, Policy, and Resources Management for the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), told a news conference that plans are being made to pull Indian troops out of the Maldives.

He said again that President Mohamed Muizzu’s government has decided that no foreign troops will be allowed to stay in the Maldives after May 10, according to PSM News, the country’s state news agency.

India said last week that its first civilian team of technical experts had arrived in the Maldives to take over from the military troops who were flying an advanced light helicopter in the island nation.

“The Maldives is now home to the first group of technicians trained to fly the advanced light helicopter. At his weekly press briefing on February 29, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said, “It will replace the current staff who were operating this platform.”

After a second meeting of the high-level core group that was set up to talk about the problem of Indian soldiers leaving, the Maldivian foreign ministry said that India would replace all of its soldiers in two stages by May 10.

A leader known as Muizzu, who was seen as pro-China, said that he would keep his election promise to get rid of all Indian military troops from his country after becoming president in November. This put pressure on India’s relations with the Maldives.

A date of March 10 had been set by Muizzu for the first group of Indian soldiers to leave his country.

China will give the Maldives free “non-lethal” weapons after his government signed a deal with China’s military this week. President Muizzu was described by local media as saying that non-lethal weapons would include pepper spray and tear gas.

Colonel Mujthaba also said that the Indian helicopter that was stationed in Addu City was being fixed right now and that 26 civilians with a replacement helicopter had come in the Maldives to take its place.

He said that the process of getting to know each other is going on and that the Indian troops will leave the Maldives as planned. He also said that the MNDF would be in charge of the Indian civilians and cars that are attached to the helicopter.

The Maldivian government says that the main reason 88 Indian military troops were in the Maldives was to fly two helicopters and an airplane that have done hundreds of medical evacuations and humanitarian missions.

The Indian airspace has been helping the Maldivians with medical and relief evacuations for a few years now.

In the presidential runoff in September of last year, Muizzu beat Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was the incumbent and was friends with India.

One of India’s most important sea neighbors in the Indian Ocean is the Maldives. Under the previous government in Male, general ties between the two countries got stronger, including in defense and security.