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| Exclusive Q&A with ousted Maldives President Nasheed | | 'The world should have seen the coup coming, could have done more' |
| Jyoti Malhotra / New Delhi Feb 08, 2012, 16:22 IST |
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Ousted Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed believes the international community should have seen yesterday’s coup in the Maldives coming and could have done more to avoid it occurring in the first place.
In an exclusive coversation with Business Standard on the phone from Male, the capital of the Maldives, Nasheed pointed out that “The old regime, led by former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is back in the Maldives.
"The international community should have seen this coming. They could have done more. I have been talking about this (possibility) for three years," Nasheed said, when asked why he hadn’t publicly articulated these concerns before.
The first democratically elected President of the Maldives in 25 years, in 2008, Nasheed was ousted in the coup in the Maldivian capital yesterday, when rebel police officers and army men broke ranks to join anti-government protesters who had laid siege to the capital for the last three weeks.
Nasheed sounded upbeat, even feisty, when this reporter asked him if he was going to stay on the Maldives.
“Yes, by god, I am going to stay on and fight this fight, democratically. This is my country," Nasheed said.
Clearly, though, the fluid and continuing fragility of the situation means that Delhi is keeping a close watch on it's southern neighbour.
India had thrown in its lot with Nasheed, when, surprisingly, he overthrew Gayoom in 2008, even though Delhi had come to Gayoom’s rescue in 1987 when pro- LTTE rebels had mounted a coup against him.
Today, prime minister Manmohan Singh sent a letter to the new prime minister, Mohamed Waheed, assuring him of India's continued support to the Maldivian people and cooperation with the Government of Maldives.
"India is committed to working with the Government of Maldives for the continued security and prosperity of both the countries," the PM said.
The question of whether yesterday's surprise development in the Maldives was a coup, an attempted coup or a face-saving resignation on Nasheed’s part, may already be infructuous.
Nasheed told the Business Standard that he resigned "to avoid the massive bloodshed” that may have occurred if he had decided to resist.
A Nasheed family member had told the BBC yesterday that the former president had been held “against his will” for a few hours yesterday.
“I am in my own home now," Nasheed confirmed to the Business Standard.
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