Maldives expects India to play a role in solving political crisis: Expresident

NEWDELHI: The opposition in the Maldives is looking to India to play a role in ending the political crisis created by President Abdulla Yameen and New Delhi has been delivering, former president Mohamed Na she ed said on Friday.

Nasheed, in self-exile in Britain since last year, is in Delhi to participate in a seminar organised by a think tank under the external affairs ministry.

“India is the world’s biggest democracy and it is difficult to see it remaining quiet or idle (about the developments in the Maldives),” Nasheed said. “We have high expectations from India, and I believe India will deliver. In fact, it is delivering.”

The Maldives has been hit by political unrest since Nasheed, the country’ s first democratic ally elected leader, was ousted in 2012.

Nasheed accused Yameen of widespread corruption and amassing wealth through illegal means. There was also widespread use of “fear and intimidation” as a political tool against the opposition, he said.

Asked whether he believed India had responded appropriated to the crisis, Nasheed said New Delhi’s diplomacy differed from that of Western capital in that it was “not rolled out” in a high profile manner. “Throughout history, India does not react. It increases things gradually,” he said.