India insists it’s not in standoff with US over diplomat arrest
Print Edition
India’s government said yesterday that there was no standoff with the United States over the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York, as both countries appear eager to defuse the month-long dispute.
After meeting with the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, following her return to New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid downplayed tensions with the US, saying the two countries would sort out their issues.
Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York, was indicted by a US federal grand jury on accusations that she exploited her Indian-born housekeeper and nanny, allegedly having her work more than 100 hours a week for low pay and lying about it on a visa form. She denies the charge.
She was allowed to return home in an apparent compromise with India, and arrived in New Delhi on Friday night.
“There is no reason now to feel any immediate concern about any outcome that might be adverse or particularly disturbing in nature,” Khurshid told reporters yesterday. “In due course, we will take up all issues one by one and sort them out.”
After the US requested that Khobragade leave the country, India asked Washington on Friday to withdraw a diplomat from the US Embassy in New Delhi. The State Department said it would comply, although with “deep regret.”
“We expect and hope that this will now come to closure, and the Indians will now take significant steps with us to improve our relationship and return it to a more constructive place,” a spokeswoman said.
Much of India’s outrage stems from the circumstances of Khobragade’s arrest, which were seen as unnecessarily humiliating. Khobragade was picked up on December 13 and then strip-searched while in custody, which the US Marshals say is common practice.
India also unleashed a steady stream of retaliatory measures against US diplomats. Some of the measures, such as preventing the American Center in New Delhi from screening movies, were seen by some observers as petty. But others raised alarm, including removing concrete traffic barriers around the US Embassy and revoking diplomats’ ID cards.
Asked about restoring the privileges of US diplomats in New Delhi, Khurshid said they would be treated the same as diplomats from other countries. “I don’t think we should be seen as showing more favor to one and less favor to others,” he said yesterday in an interview with CNN-IBN, an Indian television news channel.
Ties with the US have chilled in recent years over several serious policy issues, including India’s delays in enacting more business-friendly reforms and the US National Security Agency’s alleged spying on New Delhi.
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