In snub to India, Maldives' STELCO signs capacity-building agreement in power sector with Pakistan

In an apparent political jab to India, Maldives has signed a capacity-building agreement in the power sector with Pakistan, media reports said.

According to  The Times of India , officials of the Maldives state electricity company (STELCO) visited Pakistan last week and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for “cooperation in institution-building activities”.

This incident occurred amidst the continuing deterioration  in relations between India and Maldives  and two days after the Maldives government’s decided to ‘return’ two search-and-rescue helicopters gifted by India in 2016, following the signing of an India-Maldives defence action plan in April that year.

Last week, the four-member STELCO team met the head of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in Lahore, Muzammil Hussain, who said that Pakistan was ready to help the Maldives, reported  Maldives Independent .

“We, fortunately, have a pool of knowledge, expertise and training facilities with us and STELCO can make benefit from it. WAPDA is ready to fully support the Maldives in development of its infrastructure in power sector,” Pakistan Today  quoted Hussain as saying earlier.

However, the move has left Indian officials stumped who are trying to find out what Maldives wants from Pakistan when a majority of STELCO’s projects are currently being handled by Chinese companies.

“Given its precarious financial situation, Pakistan cannot do much to help to the Maldives. But President Yameen is trying his best to reduce Indian footprint and bring in elements hostile to India to undermine Indian influence in the Maldives,” The Times of India report quoted an Indian official as saying.

Relations between India and Maldives have not been smooth for quite a while now.

A worrying fact for India has been the way the Maldives has allowed China to make strategic inroads while strategically pushing India out. In the last week of March, Maldivian Ambassador to China Mohamed Faisal  had said  that India was like a brother to the Maldives but China was like a long-lost cousin found.

In the last week of February, Maldives declined India’s invitation to participate in the biennial naval exercise. The Maldivian ambassador to India later said that the country declined the invitation because of the then emergency situation in the country.

Earlier, the Maldives had also warned India against taking “any actions” that could hinder resolving the political crisis in the country. In a statement, Maldives’ foreign ministry had said that Yameen’s government takes note of the public statements issued by the Indian government that “ignore the facts and ground realities” with regard to the ongoing political developments in the Maldives.

With inputs from agencies