India has always been there to help the Maldives and so the nation’s government doesn’t see any reason for military cooperation with any other country, Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi said on Friday.
“So far as we are concerned we are very comfortable in having India as our very close friend because they always came to our rescue in 1988 [to thwart an attempted coup] or the tsunami or the recent water crisis,” Ms. Didi said in response to a question from The Hindu during a media interaction. “Our closest neighbour has been India and they have always been there to help so there is absolutely no need to have any other sort of military cooperation with any country as such,” she asserted.
Observing that the Maldives does not want the Indian Ocean to become an area of contestation for great powers, Ms. Didi said: “There is this mutual understanding between us and as we have mentioned before, we are very much bent on keeping the Indian Ocean a safe, protected zone where the bigger powers don’t engage in a way that could perhaps be detrimental to the interests of our nation.”
Talking of defence cooperation, Ms. Didi welcomed the presence of Indian helicopters that were there for humanitarian assistance especially as the Maldives had a lot of islands and extreme weather in which helicopters were often the only mode of viable transport.
The Maldives has started using the helicopters — gifted by India — that had been grounded during the previous government’s reign in the island nation.
“We have resumed helicopter operations in Maldives. It has since helped save 10 lives in our search and rescue operations,” the minister said. “There are so many ways in which we are using the helicopters. I don’t know why it was stopped for a while,” she added.
She also confirmed that the two countries were holding discussions for a Dornier aircraft which would be used for search and rescue and surveillance.
India had gifted two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) in 2013, one operated by the Indian Coast Guard and the other by the Indian Navy. Last year, the Maldives government had refused to extend the visas of Indian military personnel after their validity had expired and asked India to take back the helicopters.
The bilateral relationship had turned frosty after the Maldives started moving closer to China during President Abdulla Yameen’s tenure and worsened when an emergency was declared by Mr. Yameen in February. However, relations have been normalised since the new government headed by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took over in November following the country’s elections.
On Thursday, Ms. Didi held bilateral discussions with her counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman during which India reiterated its commitment to contribute towards capacity building and the training requirements of the Maldives National Defence Forces.
