Armed Maldivian police acting on a court order arrested the country's first democratically elected president on Monday after he failed to turn up at his trial for abuse of power, his party said.

Police in riot gear broke down a door of a house where Mohamed Nasheed was staying on the island of Fares Maathodaa in the south of the archipelago nation, a famous honeymoon spot for the rich and famous.

An unidentified attacker stabbed and killed a Maldivian ruling party legislator Tuesday in the first assassination of a lawmaker in the Indian Ocean archipelago, police said.

Afrasheem Ali, 46, a lawmaker from the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), was attacked on the steps of his apartment in the capital island Male early Tuesday, police spokesman Hassan Haneef told AFP.

The Maldives government rejected Sunday a ban on dancing in public between men and women called by its own Islamic Affairs ministry and pledged that the honeymoon hotspot would remain a beacon of tolerance.

Presidential spokesman Abbas Riza said a circular issued by the ministry prohibiting dancing between men and women was not enforceable as it had no basis in Maldivian law.

Security forces in the Maldives have stepped up attacks against peaceful demonstrators since the resignation of its first democratically elected president, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The crackdown included the detention, beating and sexual harassment of four women participating in an anti-government rally, other beatings, pepper-spraying and arrests, the London-based rights watchdog said.

A court in the Maldives has ordered a public flogging for a 16-year-old girl who confessed to having pre-marital sex, defying U.N. pressure to drop corporal punishment of women, officials said Tuesday.

The unnamed teenager was convicted on her confession under sharia law after her family complained that she has had sex with a 29-year-old man in July.

President Mohamed Waheed of the Maldives, accused of seizing power in a military-backed coup, faced his first popularity test on Saturday when voting was held in two key by-elections.

Waheed is not directly fielding candidates but has publicly endorsed members of his coalition partners for the Thimarafushi and Kaashidhoo constituencies.

New Maldives president Mohammed Waheed pledged on Tuesday to restore "peace and order" as international pressure mounted on him to ease tensions in the island after his predecessor was ousted.

President Mohammed Waheed's office said he assured a visiting European delegation that he would form a "fully inclusive" cabinet, including members of former president's Mohammed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The Maldives' new president expanded his Cabinet on Sunday to strengthen the coalition government that has ruled the Indian Ocean nation since the former leader's resignation last week sparked a political crisis.

Six members from four political parties were sworn in as ministers in the government led by President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

A top U.S. diplomat Saturday ruled out snap elections to defuse a political crisis in the Maldives as its new president agreed to probe allegations that a military-backed coup vaulted him to power.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs Robert Blake said there should "breathing space" from this week's violence and a vote could be held after strengthening the elections commission and police.

A U.N. special envoy arrived Friday for talks with the new administration in the Maldives, as former president Mohammed Nasheed called for fresh elections after being ousted in what he called a coup d'etat.

Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco reached the capital Male early Friday and was due to hold talks with new president Mohammed Waheed.