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India shelters Maldives’ former president
February 15, 2013, 11:00 am

[Getty Images]

Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed. [Getty Images]

The Indian High Commission in Male will remain the new home of Mohamed Nasheed, the former Maldivian President, until a solution is found to the extreme positions that he and the government have taken over his refusal to take notice of a local court summons.

Salman Khurshid, India’s external affairs minister will be speaking to his counterpart in Maldives which has raised strong objections to India’s views regarding the former president who has sought “refuge” in Male.

“I will be talking to the foreign minister of Maldives (Abdul Samad Abdullah) regarding the issue,” Khurshid told the Indian news agency, PTI.

Mr Nasheed and his party, the Maldivian Democratic Party, have demanded “an interim arrangement to oversee free and fair elections,” while President Mohammed Waheed Hassan has refused to entertain the demand.

“An interim, caretaker government should be established that can lead the Maldives to genuinely free and fair elections, in which all candidates are freely able to compete,” Mr Nasheed said.

Officials of the thinly-staffed High Commission have been stretched to the limits of their capabilities since Mr Nasheed stepped down on February 7, 2012 and are not hopeful of an early solution.

Source: Agencies