Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, March 5
A day after the Maldives reportedly signed an agreement with China to receive free military aid, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu made an about turn on the issue of Indians manning emergency evacuation and surveillance platforms by stating that no Indian troops, including those in civilian clothing, will be allowed to enter the country after May 10.
South Block had earlier presumed that the stand taken by the new Maldives government on clearing the country of all foreign military personnel meant that there would be no objection to replacing the 80-odd Indian army men posted there with civilians.
But just as the first lot of Indian civilians arrived to replace the military men, Muizzu has thrown a spanner by saying that, “these people (Indian military) are not departing, and they are returning after changing their uniforms into civilian clothing. We must not indulge such thoughts that instill doubts in our hearts and spread lies,’’ Maldives media reported Muizzu as saying.
“There will be no Indian troops in the country come May 10. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. The Indian military will not be residing in this country in any form of clothing. I state this with confidence,” he reportedly added.
India had presumed that the February 2 India-Maldives core group meeting had agreed to begin replacing Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10 with the first phase to be completed by March 10.
Late on Monday, Maldives Defence Ministry said in a X post that it had signed an “agreement on China’s provision of military assistance” with China but gave no further details. The Chinese Foreign Office deflected the query to “competent Chinese authorities’’.
“More broadly, China is committed to working with the Maldives to build a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Normal cooperation between China and the Maldives does not target any third party and will not be disrupted by any third party,’’ said its spokesperson Mao Ning.
On Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had countered the charge that India was acting like a bully with the Maldives by stating that “big bullies do not offer $4.5 billion aid or vaccine or food when neighbouring countries are in distress.’’