NEW DELHI – In a new embarrassment to India, details of purported securitypacts between India and Seychelles have surfaced on the Internet along witha YouTube video, complete with maps and location of proposed facilities.

There has been no official word from the government so far on the textsdoing the rounds. But these documents have surfaced weeks after outgoingForeign Secretary S Jaishankar visited the Indian Ocean island in Januarythis year to seal a renegotiated security deal.

The 2018 agreement is said to be a more detailed and improved version ofthe 2015 pact signed between the two countries when Prime Minister NarendraModi visited Seychelles.

The documents on the Internet, said to be texts of both agreements, weresuspected to have been leaked this week from Seychelles.

On Tuesday, Seychelles President Danny Faure was quoted by Seychelles NewsAgency as telling the national assembly: “Assumption belongs to Seychellesand Seychellois. Land on Assumption has not been sold or leased to theGovernment of India.”

Developing infrastructure on Assumption is a key piece in India’s proactivemaritime strategy as it counters China’s moves in the Indian Ocean region.

“The 2015 agreement was a very basic agreement with key areas outlined.Following re-negotiation, a lot of the concerns from the Seychelles sidewas accommodated in the revised text of the agreement in January 2018. Thenew text also spelt out specifics and the nitty-gritties in greaterdetail,” sources said.

Unlike in 2015 when the joint project monitoring committee was chaired bythe Indian envoy, the 2018 version had the Indian envoy and the SeychellesForeign Secretary as co-chairs.

The same template was followed for the joint working group with the Indianenvoy and the Seychelles Foreign Secretary as co-chairs.