Asia-Pacific News

Wife, daughters of ousted Maldivian president fly to Sri Lanka

Feb 9, 2012, 9:05 GMT

A file picture taken on 22 October 2009 shows Maldives\' President Mohamed Nasheed at the Delhi High Level Conference on Climate Change Technology Development and Transfer in New Delhi, India. EPA/STR

Colombo - The wife and children of Mohamed Nasheed, who was allegedly forced to resign as president of the Maldives this week, arrived in Sri Lanka for their protection, Sri Lankan officials said Thursday.

Laila Ali Abdulla and the couple's two daughters 'have arrived in Sri Lanka for safety,' said Bandula Jayasekara, a spokesman for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's office.

Rajapaksa telephoned his new Maldivian counterpart, Mohamed Waheed Hassan, Thursday to appeal for Nasheed's safety, Jayasekara said.

The appeal came a day after 30 of Nasheed's supporters were injured in clashes with security forces in the capital, Male.

'More than 200 of our supporters, including six members of parliament, have been arrested while some of our members are living in safe houses as they are concerned about their security,' former foreign minister Ahmed Naseem told dpa by telephone Thursday.

'The police and Waheed's supporters have beaten up our supporters,' he said. 'The police are carrying out the illegal orders of the new regime.'

Naseem said Nasheed was forced to resign at gunpoint Tuesday in a coup plotted by Waheed.

On Wednesday, the new president appointed Mohamed Nazim minister of defence and national security and the former justice minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed as home affairs minister.

Waheed called on them to use their experience to resolve the current situation in the country and implement justice according to the constitution.