India hoping Maldives crisis will be resolved soon: Krishna

Kunming (China), Feb 7 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday said India has friendly relations with The Maldives and expressed hope that all issues surrounding the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed as the President of the country will be resolved in a peaceful manner.

"Well, we just have been getting information in bits and the latest that I hear is that there has been an announcement that the President has stepped down and the Vice President has taken over. Well, you know we have very friendly relations with Maldives and we also know that there have been some problems between the opposition and the President and it's our desire and it's our wish that there is a peaceful resolution of all these differences," Krishna told mediapersons here.

"And any help that we can render in terms of development of Maldives. When Prime Minister was there, he has assured the nation that India is always there to help in the developmental process and agenda. We hope that they will be resolved peacefully," he added.

Krishna further said the Indian representatives in Maldives continue to monitor the situation closely and understand that the Indian expatriate community there is safe.

"I think our representative has been in touch with all the Indian nationals and I am given to understand that all of them are safe and then we will continue to monitor the safety of every Indian, who is in Maldives," he said, when asked that a lot of Indians stay in Maldives.

The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, resigned today in favour of a national unity government under the leadership of Vice President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan until next year's presidential election.

The resignation came following weeks of public protests over his controversial order to arrest a senior judge. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)