Indian Navy training squadron reaches Male as the Maldives signs defence pacts with Pakistan

Three ships from the Indian Navy's First Training Squadron docked in the Maldivian capital, Male, on Wednesday 21 October for an overseas training visit. The group is made up of INS Tir and INS Sujata and the Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi, Maldivian news site Edition.mv reported, citing the Indian High Commission. The Indian Navy said on Thursday that the squadron was on a Long Range Training Deployment and had been welcomed by the Maldives National Defence Force, according to The New Indian Express.

The squadron is based in Kochi and gives officer cadets their first sea training in seamanship, navigation and watchkeeping. Its foreign deployments are also used for professional exchanges with other maritime forces, mixing practical training with naval diplomacy. The Indian High Commission said the Male programme would include training activities and exchanges in which Indian and Maldivian personnel share knowledge and operational experience, and that the visit was meant to strengthen maritime security cooperation between the two countries.

During the port call, the squadron's senior officer called on the Chief of Defence Force of the Maldives National Defence Force and on the commandant of the force's coast guard. The Indian Navy said the talks centred on sustained engagement and wider maritime cooperation, and described the visit as a sign of closer interoperability in line with India's MAHASAGAR maritime vision.

The port call coincided with events in Pakistan. The ships arrived on the same day that Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif watched officials exchange 20 memoranda of understanding in Islamabad, among them separate agreements on defence cooperation and maritime security. Muizzu had begun a state visit to Pakistan on Tuesday, and the two governments also set a goal of raising bilateral trade from 13.4 million dollars to 200 million dollars within two years, according to Pakistan's official statement as reported by The New Indian Express.

The Maldives sits astride major Indian Ocean shipping lanes, and India has built defence ties with the archipelago through military training, equipment support, coastal surveillance and joint maritime activities. More than 1,500 Maldivian military personnel have been trained in India over the past ten years, the Indian High Commission has said. India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka also hold the Dosti trilateral security exercise every two years, most recently in January, Edition.mv noted.

Those ties have been tested since Muizzu won office in 2023 on an India Out platform and demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel. By May 2024, the Indian troops who had operated Indian-supplied aviation platforms in the Maldives had been replaced by civilian technical staff. New Delhi kept up military training and maritime cooperation, and during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in July last year it extended a 565 million dollar line of credit and announced steps to ease the Maldives' debt burden.

Muizzu has also moved closer to Beijing. During his visit to China in January 2024, the two countries raised their relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. With Pakistan now adding defence and maritime security agreements of its own, the Indian squadron's visit shows New Delhi keeping up working links with the Maldivian defence force at sea.