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Rec'd via email: Daily Briefing from Foreign Policy Magazine:
India ends expat privileges in response to Khobragade suit
India ordered the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi to stop all "commercial activities" at a club it operates and submit the club's tax returns by Jan. 16, as the diplomatic spat over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York City continues (BBC, Guardian, Indian Express, WSJ). The club, the American Community Support Association, offers American citizens and their families' access to a bar, restaurant, recreational facilities, and imported duty-free items. An Indian government notice said the club's operation was "incompatible with the functions of the mission and a clear violation of Article 41 (3) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961."
"These facilities within the premises of a mission are only meant for diplomats," a senior foreign ministry official told the Washington Post, adding that: "If it is extended to non-diplomats, then it becomes a commercial venture and they should have paid taxes in India" (Post). The Indian government also asked the embassy to stop screening movies without the necessary domestic licenses and told the New Delhi police to stop granting immunity to embassy vehicles for traffic violations. Khobragade was detained on Dec. 12 on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her maid. New Delhi continues to exert diplomatic pressure in the hope that the State Department will grant Khobragade a G1 visa, which would protect her from prosecution.
Meanwhile, Ms Khobragade's lawyers in the US have requested an extension of the 13 January deadline for her indictment. But their plea has been opposed by the prosecution.
The WSJ article has been quoted.
I am glad this is a fight to the finish if BBC is to be believed. Take the gloves off, INDIA!
What is the possibility of India being bracketed into a Soviet-Ally category again IF NaMo comes to the helm? All these US actions seem to suggest that the current dispensation in India is not being taken seriously by anybody.
Gus wrote:i don't understand why nobody in US can't step up and get this resolved.
clearly, they have more to lose here given the extra privileges their entire diplo/consular corps were enjoying in india.
That is the heart of the issue, and that is why many believe that the action against DK is to send some sort of message to India. It is not just a routine case as they try to spin it. If they really valued India's friendship, they would have at least issued DK the G1 visa for her new UN role and tried to move on from there. By dragging the issue till the end, they are trying to see how far India will go, and don't care whether the relationship gets soured for a long time.
Gus wrote:i don't understand why nobody in US can't step up and get this resolved.
clearly, they have more to lose here given the extra privileges their entire diplo/consular corps were enjoying in india.
resolved how? public opinion has been steered to make it look like nasty furriners are running slave trading rackets in defiance of US law... where is the room for compromise?
Where is Sangeeta Richards in all this? Is she and her family now living at US taxpayer's expense? Would resolution of the row also include deportation of SR and family back to India?
^^^They are playing a game of high stakes brinkmanship, as perhaps Altair garu alluded to, with respect to Indian interests in Central Asia. In one or way or another we will know whether India has a spine by the 13th or was it replaced by MMS's non-existent spine in 2004. No backing down.
As regards SR that's a separate matter and no we aren't even putting that up for negotiation. She will be dealt with as per process of Indian law.
chaanakya wrote:Yeah, but why would USD take first step. India , on the contrary , seems to be bending backwards to give enough time to USD to mend the relations.
How would it appear if India started all this. We would appear as the aggressor. Now we don't. MEA is not that dumb.
Isn't it curious that India is in absolutely no hurry to resolve this and we are taking more time to expose this issue to media to effect bilateral relations in a slow ladder of escalation. JMT
FOR THE past decade, senior U.S. officials have portrayed India as an emerging strategic partner of the United States as well as an emerging power, a democracy that respects the rule of law and shares U.S. values. It’s mostly a true story, even if the rosy view of the bilateral relationship has never entirely been reciprocated on the Indian side. But there remains a considerable political and cultural divide between the countries — as the ongoing furor over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York has vividly illustrated.From the point of view of U.S. law enforcement, the case of Devyani Khobragade, a consular official in New York, is straightforward: She, like a distressingly large number of foreign diplomats posted to the United States, exploited a domestic employee in violation of U.S. law. Ms. Khobragade allegedly submitted to the State Department a contract that promised to pay a housekeeper $9.75 an hour for 40 hours a week but separately gave the housekeeper a different contract at $3.31 an hour and required her to work many more hours. She would not be the first Indian diplomat to commit this offense. At least two other high-ranking officials have been sued by domestic employees in New York since 2010.with common criminals and drug addicts” after her Dec. 12 arrest. In fact there was no cavity search, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which handles transport for federal prisoners, and Ms. Khobragade was offered a few courtesies by State Department officials before being subjected to the same booking procedure as every other New York criminal defendant. Yet Indians — accustomed to domestic labor practices considered intolerable in the United States — perceived her treatment as the deliberate humiliation of a woman representing their country.The Indian government has compounded tensions with high-decibel rhetoric and a vindictive campaign against U.S. diplomats in New Delhi. Its bullying measures have ranged from the petty — withdrawing the U.S. Embassy’s permit to import alcohol — to the irresponsible — removing security barricades from the street in front of the facility. Employees of embassy officials are being investigated for alleged offenses including working at American schools without proper paperwork.Indian officials describe this harassment as a reciprocal response to the arrest of Ms. Khobragade, but it is not. She was the subject of a criminal investigation by a U.S. attorney acting independently. India is responding with investigations and administrative actions directed by the government for political ends — a tactic common in authoritarian states such as Russia or China but unworthy of a democracy. In a letter The Post published Monday, the Indian Embassy in Washington claimed that Ms. Khobragade’s employee had “gamed” U.S. laws to gain admission to the country. If that’s true, there’s nothing to stop Ms. Khobragade from making the case in court.In fact U.S. prosecutors and the diplomat’s attorneys appear to be seeking to negotiate a settlement of the case. That would certainly be the best outcome for both governments. As it is, both have suffered serious image damage. Indians may think U.S. officials have no respect for their dignitaries. Americans, for their part, have reason to wonder about a would-be ally that considers stripping U.S. diplomats of security measures an appropriate way of expressing displeasure
^^^I think so. MEA wants the case to go ahead and see at what level DoS will step in to resolve this. All this nonsense about 2 democracies cooperating can come to an end and the relationship will be based on commercial relations, btw that is what Modi wants anyways as seen in Gujarat.
Indian Govt already provided a face saving solution to SD. It said DK enjoyed total diplomatic immunity from middle of the year because of her UN accreditation. Now all SD has to do is agree to that (whether they think it is correct or not) and say the whole thing happened because of some mis-communication and regret the same. Then PB will have no alternative but to drop the case and say will restart it once the immunity ends. AFAIK the limitation in this case appears to be 5 years. I am not sure what happens if a case is not filed/withdrawn because of this immunity during that time. Will it survive after the immunity ends or does it die?
Who knows some thing good may come out of all this. Indian diplomats will exercise more care in hiring live in maids and draw proper contract. American embassy officials in India, as some one already said, will be forced to earn their hard ship allowance.
Another thing I am wondering is if a class action suit can be brought by Indian employees in US consulates claiming that the embassy did not follow US min wage rules as the embassy and the consulates are treated as US territories. May be it can be filed in a federal courts on contingency basis.
News reports out of New York highlight the arrest of an Indian consular official for allegedly underpaying her domestic servant, and for misrepresenting the salary on a U.S. visa application. The U.S. State Department assisted in the arrest, claiming for itself a “victory” in the war on human trafficking. Not paying a fair wage is wrong. What is also wrong is for the State Department to be following a double-standard in what it expects from foreign diplomats, and what it expects from its own.Rape
According to court documents, a U.S. Department of State diplomat and her husband tricked an Ethiopian woman into accompanying them as their domestic servant to Japan, where they held her virtually as a prisoner in their home and forced her to work for them for less than $1 per hour and where the husband repeatedly raped the woman with his diplomat wife’s consent. A Virginia federal judge awarded the victim $3.3 million in damages on a default judgment against the couple. The diplomat retired from the State Department with full pension and then fled the country.The victim, identified only as “Jane Doe,” told the court she was hired by the Howards in 2008 as a live-in housekeeper at the couple’s home in Yemen, where Linda Howard worked at the U.S. embassy. Doe says she agreed to move with the couple to Japan after Linda Howard was transferred to the embassy there and that she was promised wages of $300 per month, time off each week, health insurance and a safe place to live and work.
Once in Japan, Doe says, Russell Howard repeatedly raped her, forced her to perform oral sex and sexually assaulted her. Doe says Linda Howard was complicit in her husband’s sexual abuse, telling Doe that she should gratify her husband and make him happy. Doe, who speaks little English and no Japanese, says the Howards also used nonphysical force, such as isolation and threats of deportation, to coerce her into servitude.”
hi Sanjay, prasad one of the things that has been exposed in this episode and the WAPO editorial is the sheer poison and disinformation peddled by the Western media. On this very forum in 2004, I said that to allow the entry of the foreign media into the Indian media market without any oversight was dangerous. Perhaps the tax authorities should look at those journalists/NGO who have been taking advantage of the cheap liquor provided by the club.
This is no considered editorial... It is a pandering to predisposition and prejudice among the kind of people the Post believes to be its readership. In fact, to the wider world it simply exposes first the Post itself and secondly gives yet another look at the uglier side of American officialdom, increasingly in thrall to itself and so far out on the limb of egotism that any sign of common decency seems like a loss of face. It's a pity. India and Indians by and large regard America with friendship and even affection ... And perhaps more importantly with a degree of understanding of its actions and interests. New Delhi has been looking forward to a close and enduring friendship. India is pausing for thought now, after this grave and unwarranted provocation, coupled with a ridiculously rigid posturing which apparently far graver crimes committed by diplomats of other countries do not merit. India is wondering why, and rightly so. It's actions in response are calibrated to extract both an answer and restitution.
Sanjay, even in places like TT and Guyana, Surinam there are limits to foreign journalists//NGO - the two are interchangeable. In this instance, the GOI should actually use this opportunity to close them down given their associations.
The most telling line from that puke from WaPo Editorial Board
"bullying tactics - actions not worthy of a democracy". They have gone off their rocker.
Washington Post has got to be channeling some state department contact. It is not a simple matter of the Editorial Board deciding to be sanctimonious p*icks although they are that as well.
matrimc wrote:The most telling line from that puke from WaPo Editorial Board
"bullying tactics - actions not worthy of a democracy". They have gone off their rocker.
Someone with an account ought to retort that India too has gone strictly by the rules.
What they fail to realize is that India , out of goodwill, had not taken action against US even though what the embassy was doing was illegal. Now that US is enforcing its rules, India too is doing it. And India is taking administrative actions as per its rules. For real bullying tactics, we defer to Russia and China Unfortunately, as proved by the DK episode, US only understands methods followed by Russia/China, not the timid ones followed by India
JE Menon wrote:This is no considered editorial... It is a pandering to predisposition and prejudice among the kind of people the Post believes to be its readership.
And successfully too, going by a casual perusal of the comments. Shows up WaPo for what it is, a mouthpiece for Foggy Bottom.
The WaPo is increasingly right wing in its view but also reflects a view very prevalent within GOTUS bureaucratic circles. Remember the old Indo-Pak line about how both sides have committed wrongs, etc. The longer this plays out the more this attitude will surface after going dormant for a while.
Look for more Indo-Pak mentions in the news and more, 'both democracies' line followed by India needs to ensure peace in Kashmir, blaah blaah blaah.
I still think Obama could end this all with a pardon.
Theo_Fidel wrote:I still think Obama could end this all with a pardon.
But no one's asking for one, for there was no crime as far as India is concerned, and this episode wasn't started by us.
Seeking/accepting a pardon implies an admission of guilt, similar to the plea bargain option that's being pushed by the DA's office and (rightly) not being considered by MEA.
But it is a way out for DoS and Preet Bharara. Otherwise President and his cabinet are executive only. Isn't it against the US constitution for the executive to meddle in the judicial process.
pankajs wrote:Reciprocal response to an Indian diplomat being arrested, handcuffed, strip searched and cavity searched is to arrest, handcuff, strip-search and cavity search an American diplomat in India. No more no less. Lets not bring in other issues into this at this point of time.
Of course the non-reciprocal privileges enjoyed by US diplomats in India should be eliminated.
Just used as an example.
All these measures may give temporary satisfaction but wont solve the immediate problem which is to get the charges against DK dropped.
Further these measures would have been gamed before the arrest and are expected moves.
Besides opens up India to charges of retaliating against innocents which is what they want.
The GOI is removing unilateral/non-reciprocal privileges extended in the past for various dubious reasons and each privilege shows how much GOI has GUBOED to the US SD. Its about time MEA expalined the rationale for each of these non-reciprocal priviliges which have been extended in the past. Am sure a lot of skeletons will pop-out.
If one wants a win then the reciprocal moves have to be bypassed and David type of move is need in an unexpected area that hits the opponent hard.
matrimc wrote:Isn't it against the US constitution for the executive to meddle in the judicial process.
I don't understand how that works, considering federal DAs and SC judges are appointed by the executive w/legislature's approval. Wasn't PB appointed by Obama?
Even as India stepped up pressure on the United States by ordering the closure of some facilities at its embassy in Delhi in connection with the alleged visa fraud case against its New York-based diplomat Devyani Khobragade, differences have cropped up between the IFS officer and the Ministry of External Affairs over the plea bargain offer from US Attorney Preet Bharara.
US authorities, predicated on Khobragade pleading guilty in the case, are willing to waive her prison term while recognising it as a criminal offence, it is learnt.
Khobragade was open to taking this discussion further with just one condition — an assurance that any criminal record from the case will not impede her from entering the US in the future, be it in obtaining a visa or related law-enforcement issues, as she is married to a US national.
The MEA, however, put its foot down, saying the government could not accept any deal which will frame this case as a criminal offence as that could hurt similar cases besides complicating matters for those currently posted in the US.
The starting point for any legal deal, sources said, was to convert this case into a civil offence confined to the alleged underpayment of wages to Khobragade's maid Sangeeta Richard. All previous cases involving Indian diplomats and their domestic helps in the US have been civil offences.
But if that is done, the US would suffer some loss of face as Khobragade had been arrested on trafficking charges and those were the grounds on which Richard's family was moved out of Delhi by the US embassy.
For the government, it's learnt, facilitating Khobragade's unimpeded re-entry into the US is not a priority as much as ensuring she gets diplomatic accreditation (G-1 visa) from the US state department following her transfer to the United Nations. Once that is done, the government may even move her out of the US after some time.
...
..
The dialogue was set for January 15-16 and it is believed the Indian side has suggested a postponement given the present acrimony in the relationship. The US, on the other hand, has conveyed that both sides should not let this issue affect other aspects of the relationship.
But South Block is in no such mood. It has planned a range of measures targeting US diplomats in India. Starting with simpler steps like stripping some diplomatic privileges to preparing grounds for serious legal action, all options are being explored.
The anger, it is learnt, has multiplied in the past week or so after the MEA established that it was the State Department which had taken the lead and sought prosecution in the case.
...
If the state department took the lead for prosecution, it is their responsibility to ensure that DK is released without any charges. For India, it is not just for one person, any other diplomat can be blackmailed similarly in future too.
PB is irrelevant here. SD initiated it, SD has to end it.
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matrimc wrote:The most telling line from that puke from WaPo Editorial Board
"bullying tactics - actions not worthy of a democracy". They have gone off their rocker.
Very telling indeed. The same 'actions not worthy of a democracy' are applicable to the US. The actions of successive administrations have been unworthy.
Bottom line is that the US administrations have become accustomed to mouthing off support for a set of universal values that they then proceed to apply very selectively.
Khobragade was open to taking this discussion further with just one condition — an assurance that any criminal record from the case will not impede her from entering the US in the future, be it in obtaining a visa or related law-enforcement issues, as she is married to a US national.
The MEA, however, put its foot down, saying the government could not accept any deal which will frame this case as a criminal offence as that could hurt similar cases besides complicating matters for those currently posted in the US.
...
...
A point to ponder for MEA going forward. Officers with non-Indian spouse should not serve in the nation of the foreign born spouse. It adds more complexity to contentious issues and forces the diplomat to choose sides that may be harmful to their personal situation.
The starting point for any legal deal, sources said, was to convert this case into a civil offence confined to the alleged underpayment of wages to Khobragade's maid Sangeeta Richard. All previous cases involving Indian diplomats and their domestic helps in the US have been civil offences.
... The anger, it is learnt, has multiplied in the past week or so after the MEA established that it was the State Department which had taken the lead and sought prosecution in the case.
...
If the state department took the lead for prosecution, it is their responsibility to ensure that DK is released without any charges. For India, it is not just for one person, any other diplomat can be blackmailed similarly in future too.
PB is irrelevant here. SD initiated it, SD has to end it.
So indeed this is more of a civil case of contract law. The judge may see it as just that. If there was an issue of human trafficking, then DK's husband should also be brought up on these charges since according to US law he is complicit as well, but he was not named as a defendant. To drop this, all it takes is for Kerry to pick up the phone and call Holder, but he won't do that. I think this administration wants to undo the good will developed, at least on the Indian side, what the Bush administration did. The Democrats are not interested in the relations the two sides have built up on science, aerospace and defense, which until now was ready to take off as India is one of the world's largest arms importer (over $50 billion in the last 10 years). They are like the Congress Party and are interested in vote bank politics.
Agreed. However, it is deeper. The loathing of Indians is endemic, it appears, in the US. All sense was abandoned in this case and in the case of the WaPo, they seem to advocate that Indians should follow US law but US should not follow Indian law.
At its core is the sense of entitlement the US has.
On the issue of security and their fear after Bengazi: it isn't India's fault that Obama let his Ambassador die because he was busy trying to get elected.
matrimc wrote:Isn't it against the US constitution for the executive to meddle in the judicial process.
I don't understand how that works, considering federal DAs and SC judges are appointed by the executive w/legislature's approval. Wasn't PB appointed by Obama?
Appointments are executive functions. Think of a rule which says "the president shall appoint the S NY prosecutor after confirmation by the congress" and in this case Obama appointed Bharara after confirmation from current congress - whichever committee handles the confirmation. Obama has to appoint and seek confirmation in whatever order as specified by the law. He does not have a choice to deviate from that process nor not appoint as that would be not discharging his responsibility.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 09 Jan 2014 07:17, edited 1 time in total.
But South Block is in no such mood. It has planned a range of measures targeting US diplomats in India. Starting with simpler steps like stripping some diplomatic privileges to preparing grounds for serious legal action, all options are being explored.
Unfortunately, as proved by the DK episode, US only understands methods followed by Russia/China, not the timid ones followed by India 
