AFP
New Delhi
India expressed concern yesterday over the “arrest and manhandling” of the Maldives’ former president Mohamed Nasheed under an anti-terror law and urged the island nation calmly to sort out its differences.
Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected president who now leads the main opposition party, was taken into custody by police on Sunday for the alleged illegal detention of a judge when he was in power more than three years ago.
“We are concerned at recent developments in the Maldives, including the arrest and manhandling of former president Nasheed,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We urge all concerned to calm the situation and resolve their differences within the constitutional and legal framework of Maldives.” The ministry added that India was committed “to supporting the people and the Government of Maldives in their quest for peace, development, prosperity and democracy”.
International reaction to his arrest has so far been muted, but Britain’s junior foreign minister Hugo Swire said he was “very concerned”.
“UK watching closely. Urge calm and restraint on all sides,” Swire tweeted.
