India demands case against diplomat in US be withdrawn; Khurshid says nations still friends

New Delhi: India on Thursday said the case against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, arrested in New York on charges of visa fraud, should not be pursued and withdrawn by the US authorities.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he had received a call from US Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday night but he was not available at that time.

"I was not available when John Kerry called. We are trying to log a time for a call this evening. Kerry is in the Philippines and there is a huge time difference," he said.

"I have sought details of what happened in the case of the diplomat," he said, asserting that the matter should not be pursued and be withdrawn.

The Centre also wants to ensure the furore over the arrest and strip-search of the diplomat does not do lasting harm to its 'valuable relationship' with the US, Khurshid said.

"I can't believe that either side wants to put at risk a very valuable relationship in which we have made an enormous investment," he told a TV channel. "Things happen between friends, even things that are terrible. The whole thing about friendship is that it survives, survives the test of this nature," he further said.

"It is not an irreversible matter and we have to deal with it sensibly," the minister said.

Taking a dig at the India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara, Khurshid said, "I feel no need to take Bharara and his comments seriously." Bharara had defended the action against the diplomat.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on visa fraud charges as she was dropping her daughter to school and released on a USD 250,000 bond only after pleading not guilty in court.

The ill-treatment of the its diplomat evoked a sharp reaction from India which initiated a slew of steps to downgrade the privileges enjoyed by the US diplomats and their families including withdrawing airport passes and stopping import clearances. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on Wednesday described as "deplorable" the way the diplomat was treated in the US. She has now been transferred to the Indian Mission to the UN to give her fuller diplomatic immunity.

In his first statement in Parliament on the issue, Khurshid had on Wednesday said that she was the victim of a "conspiracy" and that some people had "trapped" Khobragade, who was put through both strip and cavity searches, procedures normally used for criminals.

He had also said that India will intervene 'effectively and specifically' to ensure the return and restoration of dignity of its Deputy Consul General as it a matter of the country's prestige and honour.

There is a strong demand that Khobragade should be released unconditionally and all the charges against her should be dropped. 

Next: Kerry ignores diplomatic protocol to discuss diplomat's case

Kerry ignores diplomatic protocol to discuss diplomat's case

Washington: Ignoring diplomatic protocol, US Secretary of State John Kerry had telephoned National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon to discuss the row over the arrest of an Indian diplomat after he was told that his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid was busy in Parliament.

Flying back to the United States from a crucial Asia Pacific trip, Kerry, telephoned Menon, from his plane on Wednesday as Khurshid was busy in the proceedings of the Parliament.

Since Kerry was flying back to the US on his plane, technically, there was a little window for him to make a phone call to India, sources said. But, given the sensitivity of the nature of relationship between the two countries in the aftermath of the arrest and alleged mistreatment of Devyani Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General in New York, sources said the Secretary of State did not want to wait till he landed in the US.

As such Kerry decided to speak directly with Menon, who was available at that time, even though the latter was below his diplomatic protocol.

Last week, Kerry had spent some 15 minutes with visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, ignoring normal diplomatic protocols. This is because, sources, said he values the relationship with India and his commitment to strengthen and deepen Indio- US ties.

According to State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf, as a father of two daughters about the same age, Kerry "empathises with the sensitivities" that he heard from India about the events that unfolded after the arrest.

"And in his conversation with National Security Advisor Menon, he expressed his regret as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public incident to hurt our close and vital relationship with India," Harf said.

Kerry, she said, is being kept updated on the developments. "He's been kept up to speed on this case," she said.

The White House too kept US President Barack Obama informed about the latest development on the Indio-US bilateral ties, his spokesperson, Jay Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference.