India to start pulling out military personnel from Maldives next month

India will withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives between March and May, but will continue to operate the two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft in the island nation with the help of Indian civilian replacements and Maldivian defence personnel. This was the key takeaway from the second meeting of the high-level core group between Indian and Maldivian officials in New Delhi Friday. The Maldives Foreign Ministry statement said "both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms by 10 March 2024, and will complete replacing military personnel in…