WELLINGTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The leader of the Fiji Labor Party said the expulsion of Australian and New Zealand diplomats was regrettable, and sending a Fiji-born Australian academic home was concerning.

    Mahendra Chaudhry, who quit as the interim regime's finance minister last year, said he considered Australia and New Zealand to be important neighbors and development partners, Pacific News reported on Friday.

    He said the cutting of diplomatic ties would have an effect on Fiji and the sooner relations were restored the better.

    He said that detaining and ordering Professor Brij Lal to leave after he criticized the expulsions did not help the situation.

    "I've always maintained that we can only resolve Fiji's problems by engaging, and having dialogue and not by taking measures which are arbitrary."

    Brij Lal, one of the architects of Fiji's annulled constitution, is an Australian citizen but his wife works in Suva and he regularly travels there to be with her.

    Lal said he was interrogated by soldiers about an Australian radio interview he'd done in which he was critical of the expulsion of New Zealand and Australian diplomats from Fiji.

    He said the soldiers told him that publicly criticizing the interim regime in Fiji was not acceptable.

    He left Fiji on Thursday morning and is back in Australia.