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Kerry’s ‘regret’ over diplomat as India demands case is dropped
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India yesterday demanded the United States drop the case against a diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York City, saying she was the victim of a blackmail attempt by her housekeeper.
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “regret” over the episode in New York, and India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said he hoped the “valuable relationship” with Washington would soon return to an even keel.
But in a sign of the bruised pride and humiliation felt in India, Khurshid reiterated calls for the visa fraud case against the diplomat to be withdrawn and branded her treatment as “terrible.”
“We have asked for the case to be dropped and withdrawn ... we are not convinced that there are legitimate grounds for pursuing it,” Khurshid told foreign journalists. “I cannot believe if a US senator was arrested he would be put through this behavior ... I would rather not prejudge. Let us allow the American government to respond.”
Kerry tried to end the row in a phone call to India’s national security adviser on Wednesday, expressing regret and stressing concern that the issue not be allowed to hurt a “vital relationship.”
But Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said “a mere regret won’t make us happy. They must offer a clear apology and accept they made a mistake, that is what we will be satisfied with.”
The case sparked a diplomatic furor between the United States and India, which is incensed over what its officials describe as degrading treatment of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York. Khobragade, 39, is accused of submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her Manhattan housekeeper, an Indian national.
Khurshid took issue with the entire premise of the case and accused the housekeeper of blackmail. He told reporters she had threatened over the summer to go to the police unless Khobragade arranged a new passport for her, along with a work visa and a large sum of money.
“We need to remember the simple fact that there is only one victim in this case,” Khurshid said. “That victim is Devyani Khobragade — a serving Indian diplomat on mission in the United States.”
Khurshid also said the US attorney had ignored the fact that a legal case was already underway in India in the dispute between the housekeeper and the diplomat.
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