They were plotting to kill me: Nasheed

The political turmoil in the island nation since Mohamed Nasheeds ouster continued

The political turmoil in the island nation since President Mohamed Nasheeds ouster last week continued with the police summoning him to record a statement on his orders to arrest a top judge last month that had been decried as illegal by his opponents.

The ousted leader claimed at a rally on Monday night that police and army officers had been plotting against him and were planning to assassinate him till the last minute he was in power.

While Nasheed,who says that he was forced out in a virtual coup,has not agreed to make a statement before the police,his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) says he has been given orders to appear at the police station on Wednesday.

The former President had earlier said that he feared being arrested after a court issued an arrest warrant against him last week a day after he lost power. The court order was to arrest him on charges of breach of constitution but the massive international pressure as well as media scrutiny ensured that he was not detained.

Newly sworn in President Mohamed Waheed,meanwhile,told this newspaper that he was trying to ensure that Nasheed is not put behind bars but the former President needs to be more cooperative with law enforcement agencies.

Nasheed lost power when the police and armed forces refused to follow his orders and staged a sit-down protest. While Waheed is now trying to cobble together a coalition government to prove majority when the session starts later this month,the MDP has been insisting that early elections should be called within the next two months.

A massive rally is planned by the party in Male on Friday to raise to demand early elections. The rally will take place on a day when a commonwealth fact finding team will be in town. The fresh summons to Nasheed comes a day after he addressed a massive public gathering and said that his party would start a civil disobedience protest if the demand for early elections was not met.