Relations between India and Maldives are not improving.
Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu refused to renew the agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys.
He said that the Maldives government is not considering continuing this agreement with India. This is the first time that Muizzu has given a public statement regarding the watershed survey.
Interestingly, this announcement of Muizzu has come a few days after the departure of the Chinese spy ship. The Chinese ship was stationed in Male for almost a month.
This of the Maldives government comes days after Muizzu signed a defense cooperation agreement with China to provide free military assistance to boost “strong” bilateral ties.
India-Maldives relations have faced continuous setbacks since Muizzu, who is considered a blind supporter of China, took power last year.
Muizu took the first step against India just hours after taking oath in November 2023. Muizzu announced that he would ensure the withdrawal of Indian troops from Maldives at the earliest. Muizzu has said that Indian soldiers will leave the country by May 10.
Muizzu’s new announcement of breaking relations with India comes after the Chinese research and ‘spy’ ship left Male. The Chinese spy ship stayed in Male for about a month.
Speaking at a ceremony on Monday, Muizzu said the Maldives’ Defense Ministry is making efforts to acquire the necessary facilities to conduct hydrographic surveys by the country itself.
President Muizzu was quoted by Edition.mv as saying, “Being self-reliant on hydrographic surveys will allow the Maldives to conduct surveys within the country’s waters. Then we will get all the information about our underwater features and prepare charts.
All this will be prepared by us only.” Let us inform that the government under the leadership of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had signed an agreement with the Government of India to conduct a hydrographic survey of the underwater features of Maldives.
This is the first time that Muizzu has commented publicly about his government’s hydrographic survey plans. His government had earlier announced that it was reviewing over 100 agreements signed with India by previous governments.
The most recent hydrographic survey, conducted in collaboration with India’s Hydrography Office, was launched in January 2021 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Maldives as part of the agreement signed in 2019.
“Former President Solih had obtained the approval of the Parliament to facilitate this hydrography services in Maldives and to provide this facility to the Ministry of Defence,” Edition.mv reported. Two days ago, Muizzu said his government had vowed to start work on and install a 24-hour monitoring system of Maldivian waters in March.