The Government of Maldives has declined India’s invitation to send a ministerial-level delegation to its Defence Expo.
According to Times of India, Maldivian authorities had blamed the timing, saying that Defence Minister Adam Shareef will not be able to lead a delegation to the biennial event, “as he would be traveling abroad around that time”.
The Defence Expo is to be held from 11th to 14th April, in south Chennai.
Despite the reasoning, Indian news sources described the decision as “an apparent snub to India”.
Back in February, Maldives had declined India's invitation to participate in an eight-day mega naval exercise, from 6th to 13th March.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that the Maldivian government had asked India to take back one of the naval helicopters it had gifted.
These reports surfaced not long after Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s three-day visit to the country.
During this visit the General met with a number of senior government officials including the defence minister, where both parties discussed the possibility of joint patrolling Maldives’ exclusive economic zone, which has since been described as a ‘redline’ for India.
“Diplomatic sources indicated that India will certainly seek to verify the extent of the discussion on joint patrolling of Maldivian territory,” reported India’s The Wire on Monday.
Relations between India and Maldives has been especially sour since it called on the island nation to implement the Supreme Court of February 1, which President Yameen had described as an attempted “judicial coup”. India continued the call to implement the “ruling issued by the Supreme Court’s full bench” in a message released by its External Affairs Ministry, welcoming the lift of the state of emergency.
In a statement released on February 22, the Maldivian government accused the Indian authorities of issuing public statements “that ignore facts and ground realities” are not helpful.
While India has also invited China to the Defence Expo, Times of India reports that they are yet to respond to the invitation.
