Maldives denies any 'deal' in Nasheed leaving Indian mission

Male: A day after Maldives former president Mohamed Nasheed walked out of the Indian High Commission in, the Maldivian government on Sunday made it clear that there was no deal with India and that the case against him would continue as normal. Forty-five-year-old Nasheed on Saturday walked out of the Indian mission where he was holed up since last Wednesday to evade an arrest warrant, ending 11 days of stalemate.

"There is absolutely no deal with India with regard to Nasheed. The government cannot interfere with the judiciary and the case against him would continue as normal," President Mohamed Waheed's Press Secretary Masood Imad said. "There is no arrest warrant against him (Nasheed) at the moment and hence he is a free man and can continue his social and public life," Imad said.

"He went into the Indian commission and came out purely because of his own reasons. We have no role in it," he said. Media reports have quoted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor as saying that India arranged a deal to give political space for Nasheed. Ghafoor said that Nasheed was back on the campaign trail for the September 7 presidential elections.

"The talk of the deal is rubbish, it is just a face-saving exercise for him," Imad said, referring to the reports suggesting a government deal with India with regard to Nasheed. The former Maldives president was in the Indian Mission since February 13 to evade arrest after he failed to appear in court on charges of detaining Chief Criminal Judge Abdulla Mohamed during his Presidency.

Nasheed's party claimed that the case was politically motivated and designed to disqualify him from taking part in September presidential polls. "It will be recalled that the former President had entered the Indian Mission in Male on February 13, 2013, on his own volition and had similarly decided to leave on his own," the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement in Delhi on Saturday.

"It is hoped that with this development the former president will again resume his social and political life," it said. The breakthrough came after a high-level MEA team led by Joint Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was sent to Maldives where it held a series of meetings with senior government ministers and various other stakeholders.