India-Maldives talks are on for a solution

Amid Maldives demand to remove India's military personnel from the island nation by middle of March this year, Delhi and Males held a core group meeting on Sunday to devise a "mutually workable solution" for "continued operation" of Indian aviation platforms providing humanitarian and Medvec services, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

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The ministry said that the next meeting with Maldives will be held in the national capital. During the core group meeting, both nations delved "on several aspects of the bilateral relationship," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly briefing while sharing insights on the deliberations that took place in the meeting.

"We mentioned that both sides held discussions on finding a mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and Medvec services to the people of the Maldives," he also said.

"The next meeting is to be held in India to take discussions forward. So that is where the situation as far as the Maldives is concerned," Jaiswal added.

When asked if India received a formal request from Maldives to withdraw the Indian military, Jaiswal said, "Whatever's discussed was put out in the press release. That is where the situation actually stands.