NEW DELHI // India said yesterday there was “no standoff” with Washington after it expelled a US diplomat in a bitter row over the arrest and strip search of an Indian consulate official in New York.
The Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid’s comments came a day after New Delhi gave a US diplomat 48 hours to leave the country over the dispute that has seriously strained bilateral ties.
“There is no standoff between India and the US,” Mr Khurshid said, adding “if there are any issues” the countries will “sort them out mutually”.
Relations began fraying when Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul-general in New York, was arrested last month on charges of visa fraud involving her domestic servant and lying about how much she paid her.
Shortly before her indictment on Thursday, Washington granted the Indian official, who has denied all charges, full diplomatic immunity, allowing her to return to India in what appeared to be a compromise worked out with New Delhi.
But the announcement on Friday that India had ordered the US diplomat to leave in apparent reprisal for its envoy’s treatment in New York suggested New Delhi was not ready to be entirely forgiving.
The deeply unpopular Congress government, struggling to win back favour in general elections due by May, has been under heavy pressure to act tough with Washington as opposition politicians have pounced on US actions.
They have denounced the treatment of the Indian diplomat as a violation of national sovereignty and said the United States should not be allowed to ride roughshod over Indian interests.
News of the US embassy official’s expulsion was splashed over newspaper front pages yesterday along with photos of Ms Khobragade arriving home, her palms pressed together in a traditional Indian greeting.
“I am really thankful for all your support. My government will speak for me, my lawyer will speak for me,” Ms Khobragade, 39, who left her husband and two children behind in the United States, said yesterday.
Mr Khurshid said it was “unfortunate” that the diplomat “couldn’t complete her [US] tenure”.
The United States said late Friday it “deeply regrets” India’s expulsion of the US official and wanted to mend a partnership Washington has seen as a potential bulwark against China’s growing might.
“We’re looking to move our relationship forward. We’re looking to move past this challenging time,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Ms Khobragade allegedly obtained a visa for her maid by promising to pay her US$4,500 (Dh16,500) a month and then struck a secret deal to pay her 30,000 rupees (Dh1,800) a month, far below the US minimum wage.
* Agence France-Presse
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Last 10 winners of African Footballer of the Year
2006: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2007: Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla and Mali)
2008: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal and Togo)
2009: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2010: Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan and Cameroon)
2011: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2012: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2013: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2014: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)
2016: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Algeria)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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