India has informed the United States that Devyani Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations as a member of the country's delegation to the general assembly before her arrest in a visa fraud case.
"Something will happen", said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday on the prospects of an early resolution of the stand-off arising out of the arrest of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States.
Showing no signs of yielding to India's demand, the United States on Saturday said that Devyani Khobragade's transfer to India's Permanent Mission at the United Nations will not give her diplomatic immunity retroactively and the visa fraud case against her would remain.
Secretary of State John Kerry plans to call his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid soon as the ties between two sides are too important to be derailed by an "isolated incident" of the arrest of a diplomat, the US State Department has said.
Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who is at the centre of a diplomatic row with the United States, is one of the 25 allottees who have been found ineligible to own a flat in the controversial Adarsh Housing society by a judicial panel which probed the scam.
Admitting to differences in interpretation of law, the United States on Friday said India had not acceded to demands for providing details of the inquiry into allegations made by diplomat Devyani Khobragade's domestic maid or make her available for discussing charges.
Against the backdrop of the arrest and humiliating treatment meted out to a senior Indian diplomat, a former Pakistani diplomat to the United States has cautioned the American law enforcers to be sensitive towards the global realities on how they treat foreign diplomats in the country.
Deploring the arrest of Deputy Consul General in New York, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh on Friday summoned United States Ambassador Nancy Powell to convey India's "shock" over "absolutely unacceptable" treatment meted out to the senior Indian diplomat.
'The CIA would not need to engage a maid who has no access to any information. They can buy a politician in India for much lesser cost and have more access to information. Trust me, that happens,' Amar Bhushan, former head of R&AW's counter-espionage section, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Amidst outrage expressed by members in Parliament, India on Wednesday asserted that it will intervene "effectively and specifically" to ensure the return and restoration of dignity of its Deputy Consul General in New York who has been arrested on charges of visa rules violation.
The investigations into and actions being taken by the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service against Devyani Khobragade were not shared with Secretary of State John F Kerry, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, or Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, reveals Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa from Washington, DC.
Former US Ambassador to India David Mulford, who served for five years in Delhi during the George W Bush administration, has sated that Washington should apologised publicly for the way former New York Indian Consul General Devyani Khobragade was strip and cavity searched last December following her arrest for alleged exploitation of her maid.
The US has said that it was committed to work with India to help it get back the Category 1 aviation safety rating "as soon as possible", a day after Washington downgraded India's ranking, bringing it below Pakistan and at par with countries like Ghana and Bangladesh.
India on Friday expelled senior American diplomat within hours of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade being asked to leave the United States after her indictment in a visa fraud case for which she was arrested nearly a month ago, triggering strong reaction from the government here.
Asserting that its demand after Devyani Khobragade's arrest is not unreasonable, India has said the case is not about mistreatment of a domestic employee but rather of US laws being gamed for immigration purposes.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has asked a court in New York to dismiss the indictment against her and terminate any 'open' arrest warrants in the visa fraud case, arguing that she was 'cloaked' in diplomatic immunity and cannot face criminal prosecution in the United States
'When all the facts are known, if they ever are, it will likely turn out that both Ms Khobragade and Ms Richard might have been at fault and so too might both governments be faulted, the US for a needlessly aggressive approach in the first place and India for its ham-handed response in the early stages of the affair,' says Rupa Subramanya.
Terming the Khobragade episode "extremely irksome", Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said it was time there should be a "closure" to the issue for which the US should find a "political solution".
'It is my job to resolve the issue, and we are looking at all options,' Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid tells Sheela Bhatt.
India's tough measures against United States diplomats following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York has impacted US Ambassador Nancy Powell who called off her travel to Nepal after her special privileges were withdrawn.
An eminent Indian-American lawyer has urged the Indian government to restore the security barriers at the US embassy in New Delhi which were removed after the country announced a slew of reprisal measures over the treatment meted out to its senior diplomat in New York.
The United States on Wednesday said employment of domestic workers will now be on agenda for the bilateral talks with India with which it is in conversation to "determine the way forward" in resolving the 14-day-long diplomatic row.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan, a key strategic partner, next month as he embarks on a busy foreign travel schedule in coming months that will include Bhutan, Brazil and the US.
'How can Devyani sitting in New York and I in Mumbai arm-twist the maid's family?' Uttam Khobragade challenges Preet Bharara's version of events in this interview to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
Unfazed by the outrage over the arrest and subsequent treatment of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara defended the action against her and confirmed that her maid's family has been "evacuated" from India.
Is Devyani Khobragade's arrest connected to India detaining an anti-piracy ship owned by a US security firm, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Workers' outfits staged a rally outside the Indian Consulate in New York to show support for Sangeeta Richard, whose allegations of low wages and exploitation led to the Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade. George Joseph reports
Denouncing India's attempts to get Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade full diplomatic immunity, United States law enforcement officials warn that it will set a terrible precedent. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
'This arrest was totally unnecessary and disproportionate to the gravity of charges. What was truly required was a more measured and calculated approach, keeping in mind the strain such an action could cause to the growing bilateral relationship between these two great nations.' Indian-American organisations condemn Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's arrest.
Devyani Khobragade, deputy consul general at the Indian consulate in New York, was arrested on charges that she allegedly presented fraudulent documents to the United States State Department in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in Manhattan.
In a significant departure from tradition, the United States has decided to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi by working out a "special gesture date" around the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting that is scheduled to take place on September 26 in New York.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's worldview sets him apart
Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Obama administration, has strongly asserted that India's support for Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine and Moscow's annexation of Crimea should not be conflated with the row over diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
A political war of words erupted on Thursday over the sudden removal of Sujatha Singh
United States Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has cancelled his crucial trip to India this month in view of the strained relations between the two countries over the arrest of an Indian diplomat on alleged visa fraud charges.
In further retaliatory steps over the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, India has asked the United States to "discontinue" commercial activities being undertaken from its embassy premises in New Delhi by January 16.
The United States has said it is focused on moving forward its relationship with India and asserted that the legal procedure against diplomat Devyani Khobragade is separate from the diplomatic process.
Narendra Modi and Barack Obama will ponder over ties twice over, says Nayanima Basu
'Indians go to vote next week -- the world's oldest democracy should both celebrate and perhaps analyse this event and its implications.' Dr S Jaishankar, India's ambassador to the US, offers prescriptions for India-US ties.
The US has taken the first step to open channels of communications with a leader it had so far refused to engage with, at least openly.
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