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Indian Foreign Minister speaks to Maldivian counterpart over Nasheed

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Feb 15, IRNA -- External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Thursday spoke to his Maldivian counterpart to resolve the "unusual situation" arising out of Maldives' former President Mohamed Nasheed seeking refuge in Indian Mission in Male.

Khurshid called up Maldives Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Abdullah and spoke to him for nearly 40 minutes and is likely to speak to him again.

Maintaining that it is difficult to say anything about the situation at the moment, Khurshid told reporters here that he had a good and long conversation with Abdullah.

"I have had a long conversation.... We have discussed in detail the situation as it stands today. We are in the process, we are continuing our conversation.

"May be I would speak to him again later in the day. We are working on the background. I hope we can come to a resolution of the present situation which is to the satisfaction of everybody. But it is still an ongoing process," Khurshid said.

Stating that he will give further information as and when it is available, the Minister said both sides have understood the "totality of the circumstances".

45-year-old Nasheed yesterday took refuge in the Indian High Commission in Male to evade arrest warrant issued by a local court in a case concerning the detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court during his Presidency in January last year.

Asked specifically if Nasheed would be spending a second night at the Indian Mission in Male, he said, "As and when the situation required me to tell you, I will give you more information".

Replying to a query on Maldives Foreign Ministry's strongly worded statement accusing India of undermining its democratic institutions, Khurshid said: "I spoke to him for almost 40 minutes. We went through everything. Unfortunately, reports go out which are unauthenticated and which are not accurate reports of how both sides are approaching a situation, which is obviously a situation of an unusual nature".

Terming Maldives as a "valuable friend" of India, Khurshid said "inaccurate reports of how we deal with each other's issues should be allowed to come in the way of this friendship".

"There is a prevailing situation on which we had, as I said to you, a good conversation, a very useful conversation," he said.

Noting that Nasheed was a candidate for the Presidential elections to be held in September, India had yesterday said in a statement that it is necessary that the Presidential nominees of recognised political parties be free to participate in the polls without any hindrance.

Replying to it, Maldives in a late night statement had said "It was unfortunate that the Government of India has decided to publicly comment on today's events instead of opting for bilateral discussions between the two Governments".

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 1066902