India on Thursday said it is committed to pursuing its development agenda with Maldives, including the implementation of various welfare projects.
This comment by External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal comes amid tension in relations between the two countries after Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu called for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country by March 15.
Responding to a question at the weekly press conference, he said, “We are committed to taking our projects forward. We have been an important development partner of Maldives.”
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Jaiswal said, “We are committed to doing all we can as a development partner of Maldives.”
Asked about Maldives’ insistence on withdrawal of Indian troops, he said the matter will be discussed in the second meeting of the India-Maldives Core Group.
The next meeting of the core group is scheduled to be held in New Delhi early next month. The issue of Indian military personnel was discussed extensively in the first meeting of the Core Group on January 14 in Male.
“Both sides discussed finding mutually practical solutions to enable continued operations of Indian aviation platforms providing humanitarian and medical services to the people of Maldives,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement after the meeting.
India-Maldives relations came under strain after Muizzoo, seen as a pro-China leader, said after taking over as President in November that he would keep his election promise of expelling Indian military personnel from the country.
Asked about the case of eight former Indian naval personnel jailed in Qatar, Jaiswal said consular access was recently granted to the Indian Embassy in Doha.
He said, “Our ambassador met the eight detained Indians along with embassy officials. The legal team is looking into the aspects of the petition.”
Qatar’s appellate court on December 28 commuted the death sentence awarded to the Indians and sentenced them to varying jail terms, weeks after their family members appealed against an earlier order by another court. Appeal was filed.