Even as the wife and family members of the ousted Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed fled to Sri Lanka and sought asylum from the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a criminal court in Male issued orders for the arrest of Nasheed and his former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu today.

Reports said the orders for their arrest were issued by the criminal court judge who was earlier sacked by the former President for ordering the release of a government critic. However, the charges against them by the criminal court are not yet known.

The new President Mohamed Waheed said the former president is safe but refused to elaborate further. While some reports said he was under house arrest on the orders of the President, some said he has been hiding somewhere in the island safely.

The law and order situation went out of control in the island nation of the three lakh people after Nasheed was forced to quit by the police and military jawans who joined hands with the protesting public.

After Nasheed was forced to quit, people loyal to him came on to the streets and have been fighting pitched battles with police. Some of his supporters have captured police stations in the capital city Male.

It may be recalled that Nasheed announced his resignation after he was beaten up by some police jawans when he went to request them to give up their protests.

"I was forced to quit with guns aimed at me. They threatened to use arms against me if I didn’t resign” he said on Thursday while announcing his resignation. (JUBS)