Close ties with Maldives, Centre to decide on recalling military staff: Navy Chief

India has close cooperation with Maldives and any decision to scale down Indian military personnel presence from the key island nation will be based on instructions from the Central Government, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday. Addressing the media ahead of Navy Day on December 4, the top naval officer said India has "a few assets" deployed in Maldives, adding that India has assisted the country in multiple ways over the last five years, including carrying out over 500 medical evacuations, and helping the country with surveillance to detect illegal activities in the maritime domain. "As far…