Former Maldives President Urges Swift Indian Action to Resolve Crisis

New Delhi: Just hours after security forces in Maldives arrested two Supreme Court judges and an opposition leader, former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed has asked India to send in an envoy, backed by its military.

Taking to Twitter, Nasheed said, “On behalf of Maldivian people, we humbly request Indian to send envoy backed by its military, to release judges and pol detainees including President Gayoom. We request physical presence.”

Nasheed, the first democratically elected President of the island nation also urged the United States of America to stop all financial transactions of Maldives regime leaders going through the US banks. Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency on Monday, deepening a political crisis in the country that has pitted its leader against the nation's top court.

Traditionally known as a honeymooners' paradise, the Maldives has been plunged into chaos in recent years amid a crackdown on dissent, with the president jailing almost all the political opposition since he came to power in 2013. A standoff between Yameen and the Supreme Court began last week when the president refused to comply with its order to release nine political dissidents and restore the seats of 12 legislators who had been sacked for defecting from Yameen's party.

The court's surprise move on Thursday gave Yameen's opponents the majority in the 85-member assembly, meaning they could potentially impeach the president.

In a stunning blow to the regime, it also paved the way for exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed -- the first democratically elected but who was controversially convicted of terrorism in 2015 -- to return and run for president this year.

But the Yameen government has so far refused to comply with the ruling, shuttering parliament and on Sunday ordering police and troops to resist any move by court to arrest or impeach Yameen.