India has consented to remove its military soldiers from the island nation by 10 May and replace them with civilians to work as aviation management staff, the Maldives administration announced on Friday, following the second meeting of the India-Maldives High-Level Core Group.
The core group was established to mediate Male's demand that New Delhi withdraw its armed forces from the island nation.
“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”, according to the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The arrangement, however, was not mentioned in the statement released by India's Ministry of External Affairs.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs asserted that “Both sides also agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac i.e. Medical Evacuation services to the people of Maldives”.
Male demanded last month that New Delhi remove its forces from the island nation by 15 March.
Another meeting between the two sides is scheduled for the last week of February in Male, according to a press release from the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar attended the first meeting, which took place on 14 January at the foreign ministry's headquarters in the Maldivian capital.
India is the only foreign power with a military presence in the Maldives, and the archipelago's radar sites and surveillance aircraft are maintained by about 70 Indian defence personnel. Warships from India assist in policing the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Maldives.