In a major development, former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed was on Friday night sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court in Male under the anti-terrorism laws.
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.
India on Saturday voiced "deep concern" over the developments in the Maldives, a day after former president Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court of that country under anti-terror laws.
Maldives Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of the run-off presidential re-vote scheduled for Sunday, a day after former president Mohammed Nasheed led the first round but failed to clinch an outright majority.
The Maldives government on Tuesday defended the arrest of former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Democracy in Maldives is at the crossroads. There is need for the international community to put pressure on the incumbent regime in the country, so that it is not able to disrupt elections once again, and the democracy in Maldives could be saved from sinking, says Anand Kumar.
Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has asked the international community to respect the ruling on Nasheed.
Anti-Corruption Commission rules out graft.
This is the first time that the Maldives government has acknowledged that compensation has to be paid to GMR.
Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of former autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, on Saturday clinched an unexpected victory in the presidential run-off elections by defeating former President Mohamed Nasheed, who had led in two recent aborted polls.
Maldives on Friday affirmed that the controversy-ridden presidential polls set for Saturday will go ahead in order to avert a constitutional crisis.
The claim was filed on Friday before an Arbitration Court in Singapore and a final order in the matter is likely to come out by end of March next year.
Are the developments in Maldives similar to the politicisation of the Pakistan Army in the 1950s and the Bangladesh Army in the 1970s? That should be a question of concern to India, says security expert B Raman.
Shahi Imam of the Delhi Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Thursday lost his cool when a journalist questioned him regarding the Ayodhya verdict during a press conference, following which he was thrashed by supporters of the cleric.
A delegation of the Progressive Party of Maldives led by its presidential candidate, Abdulla Yamin Abdul Gayoom called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
All those charged on Thursday were from the same area of West Yorkshire, England, as three of the four bombers.
Opposition leaders across the Maldives are being rounded up and placed under detention as draconian measures are being put in place by President Abdulla Yameen.
According to separate orders issued by the Home Department of the Union Territory, the PSA against Faesal, who was a 2010-batch IAS officer, Sartaj Madani, uncle of Mufti, and Peer Mansoor, her political advisor during her tenure as chief minister, was revoked 'with immediate effect'.
As the international community focuses its attention on the presidential elections, front runners Nasheed and Abdullah Yameen have warned of poll time violence, reports Shubha Singh
This money was found wrapped in newspapers and was concealed in their check-in baggage.
'Of course, Maldives is chicken feed for the Indian armed forces. And an intervention in the Maldives may serve the purpose of creating jingoism in an election year.' 'But from the foreign policy perspective, any such move will be a flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents the names of 10 global terrorists who, according to United Nations Security Council, are operating against India from Pakistan.
'As of now, it may be best for India to insist that Yameen honours the supreme court rulings and ensures that the next election is free and fair,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Political stalwarts Murli Manohar Joshi, Sharad Pawar and former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, cricketer Virat Kohli and Carnatic musician K J Yesudas were among the 89 people who were selected for this year's Padma awards.
Considered a powerful player in Maldivian politics, former President Maumoon Gayoom on Thursday sought to allay India's concerns over rise of fundamentalism in Maldives by assuring strict implementation of a law to check radicalisation of Islam once his party returns to power.
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.
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