India needs to stand its ground against US on Khobragade

New York: A lot can change in a day. The US went in 24 hours from regret and desire to look for a solution to telling India on Friday that Devyani Khobragade was not entitled to diplomatic immunity even in India’s UN mission in New York. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said the full diplomatic immunity sought for Khobragade after her transfer to the UN mission is “not retroactive.” If the US was interested in a solution it could have dropped the Khobragade case as India had covered its legal base. Instead the State Department has colluded with Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara who is bent on making an example of Khobragade. “We take these allegations very seriously. We’re not in any way walking back from those allegations or the charges,” State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said adding that this was “really a law enforcement issue”. [caption id=“attachment_1300289” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Members of the Student Federation of India (SFI) shout slogans as policemen try to detain them during a protest outside the US consulate in Hyderabad. Reuters[/caption] Keeping up the pressure on the US The bilateral relationship is important, but External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid appears too eager to kiss and make up. He should remember that it took the Iran vote for Britain to finally shed its image as a “US lap dog.” “I am conscious of the fact that this is a valuable relationship between two countries,” said Khurshid. “I think that goes for both of us. We are conscious of this. I am sure they are equally conscious of this. We think it is important to preserve that relationship. I am sure they think as well that it is important to preserve the relationship.” The Obama administration has done little to preserve the relationship. Bharara’s office has simply ignored Indian legal proceedings already underway against Sangeeta Richard, Khobragade’s nanny, as if they had no bearing on the case. There was an arrest warrant against her. The disputes over the terms of her employment and salary were to be decided by an Indian court. The Indian embassy submitted the Delhi High Court orders to the State Department but got no response. The Americans could have settled the dispute stemming from a breach of contract in quiet ways through the State Department and the Indian mission in Washington but that didn’t happen. Perhaps, President Obama should have spared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a 21-gun salute welcome and the splendour of a state dinner at the White House. It is not an accurate reflection of the importance his administration attaches to the Indo-American relationship. “I don’t see this administration launching any strategic efforts that include India,” Stephen Cohen, a South Asian expert at the Brookings Institution, had told me years ago. Cohen is right, all we have seen during the Obama years are a “lot of tier 2” announcements but nothing of significance. The biggest achievement is that the US has sold close to $8 billion worth of arms to India in the last five years. Still, America acts like a cat on a hot tin roof when India doesn’t buy American. Since the US has a tendency to forget that it has a valuable relationship with India, it is important for New Delhi to remind Washington by standing its ground on this issue. “The US is playing games with India. But America must understand that the world has changed, times have changed and India has changed," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters. America’s sweet talk, empty promises Harf’s comment emphasising the US will not drop charges against the Indian diplomat came hours after Wendy Sherman, the State Department’s No. 3 official, spoke to foreign secretary Sujatha Singh. Sherman had discussed steps to defuse tensions. The US initially had not bargained for the ferocity of the Indian reaction to the deplorable way Khobragade was treated. That prompted Secretary of State John Kerry to call National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon. “In his conversation with Menon, he expressed his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India,” Harf said. Khobragade broke down several times after US marshals subjected her to a strip search, cavity search and DNA swabbing following her arrest on visa charges in New York. “The courts can judge the veracity of charges against Khobragade but her treatment by US marshals cannot blithely be dismissed as “standard procedure” and other mindless bureaucratese. Her humiliation is what has caused the outrage in India. As a diplomat, she represents her country abroad and under “standard procedure” enjoys certain benefits. As do American diplomats in India. It is that simple,” wrote Seema Sirohi in the Economic Times. India should remind arrogant Washington their diplomats have also been on the wrong side of the law too. Yet, India has been a good host and granted US diplomats their privileges. According to reports, an Indian died in Delhi after being hit by a car driven by a US diplomat but compensation was given to the family and the matter was handled without a transatlantic circus.