Pakistan has said disputes, which are holding back regional cooperation must be resolved and the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation should help create amity, understanding and cooperation on the basis of "enlightened self-interest of the peoples" of South Asia.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday left on a four-day visit to Maldives during which he will attend the SAARC Summit and have a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
India on Monday asserted that its friendly ties with the Maldives will continue as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Mohamed Muizzu unveiled a blueprint for comprehensive economic and maritime cooperation, signalling a reset of the relationship that had hit a rough patch last year due to anti-New Delhi rhetoric.
The President stated that due to his government's success in expelling Indian troops from the country, people who spread false rumours, are attempting to twist the situation, a news portal Edition.mv reported.
Voting was held in Maldives on Saturday for the second multi-party presidential elections with long queues of people outside polling stations in this Indian Ocean archipelago, which has seen a series of unsettling political events in the last eighteen months.
In this exclusive conversation with Rediff.com contributor Rajeev Sharma, exiled opposition leader Ahmed Naseem explains why the world should care about democracy in Maldives.
