India hopes to see free and fair election in Maldives soon: Salman Khurshid
External Minister of India, Salman Khurshid has said that India hopes to see free and fair election in Maldives soon.
Indian External Minister Salman Khurshid made this remark in an interview to Economic Times of Times of India. He said that the former President Mohamed Nasheed is a guest in the Indian High Commission and the commission is just extending courtesies to the former President when he came to there.
Salman emphasised that India is not taking any sides and that India is not engaged or involved in the internal politics of Maldives. He said that the expectation of India as a friend of Maldives is the expectation of the democratic world, that is that elections which which have been announced will hopefully be free and fair.
"As friends we obviously have advised anything that detracts from the perception of free fair elections is obviously not good for Maldives," he said.
When asked whether sheltering Nasheed is tantamount to interfering with Maldives politics, the Indian external Minister said that the people of Maldives have the support of India and whoever the people of Maldives elect will have India's support.
"Maldives can't change its history. Maldives cannot deny the history of somebody who was president of Maldives. And we cannot deny Maldives' present by saying that whatever there is at present is not to our liking. It's the people of Maldives who decide and whoever they decide as their elected leadership, we will respect," he said.