Nasheed wants foreign body to probe his ouster

Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed wants a foreign body to probe the circumstances of the coup that ousted him in February and plunged the country into a political crisis.

Nasheed told a news conference that his Maldivian Democratic Party is considering requesting a "foreign organisation" to look into the incidents of February 7 impartially.

He did not elaborate over which foreign body his party wanted to approach.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group is already looking into the matter, and has suspended Maldives' membership till the probe is completed.

The present government too is looking into the issues related to the political unrest that toppled Nasheed's regime.

Nasheed, Maldives' first democratically-elected president, had said he was forced to resign as gun-wielding military men threatened that they would resort to violence if he did not follow their diktat.

The government denies Nasheed's allegations of a coup.

Meanwhile, President Mohamed Waheed has sent letters to political parties which are participating in the all-party talks, asking them to resume the process.

The talks were in shambles after several political parties withdrew their representatives in protest after MDP lawmakers created chaos in the parliament and prevented the new president from delivering an opening address.