India-US Strategic News and Discussion

johneeG · Post by **johneeG** » 18 Dec 2013 07:55

Victor wrote:Devyani's father is saying the maid and her parents were taken away from India to US on a special visa just before Devyani's arrest. This in spite of a FIR against the maid in India.
Link

EJs would go to this extent for a common maid? I doubt it. Something doesn't add up. Why is amirkhan being so generous towards this maid?

Anyway, its a good excuse to remove all the illegal and special privileges that are allowed to amirkhan diplomats in dhesh.

RSangram is partially right, if the sarkaar had woken up when the aam aadhmi was being mistreated, then this situation would not have arisen. Over the years, amirkhan has slowly increased the levels starting with George Fernandes to Kalam and now this. Now its down to cavity searches of lady diplomats!

Why not just give tit for tat reply whether the victim is a dheshi diplomat or aam aadhmi? If Brazil can do that, Bhaarath must also be able to do that.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 18 Dec 2013 07:55

4-5 is too small a number. Probably a concierge and daycare would be better. Why should the juniors (in rank, i.e.) be excluded from the perks?

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 18 Dec 2013 07:55

SBajwa wrote:
O.k here is a contrarian view: So an Indian American prosecutor on the complaint of an Indian maid has the Indian consular staff arrested because she violated the law of which there is documentary proof, and it is all Uncle Sam's fault? Hypocrisy anyone?
Exactly!! Hypocrisy!! Indian diplomats have been so accustomed to abusing the Law in their own country along with other countries (like nPakistan) that they expect to do the same all over the world. It does not work that way!

this mindless batting for US is becoming insufferable. it has now been made clear any number of time that paying maids from India at Indian rates was an established practice that was known to the americans for long and happened with their tacit approval.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 18 Dec 2013 07:57

pandyan wrote:What happened to the case of indian diplomats school going daughter wrongly arrested/locked up overnight because of someother student sent text message and blamed the girl. Were the guilty punished?

a long list in such behaviour and to which GOI turned the other cheek because MMS wanted 5* treatment and support for his pet projects. much the same with dossier diplomacy no matter what TSP does, since janaab wanted his piss process to continue.

when appeasement becomes a way of life, everyone else thinks that is the norm, and national image and credibility take a hit.
its high time a strict culture of reciprocity was followed and all our diplomats etc also trained to follow this harder process.

i remember an incident wherein a chinese diplomat, at an indian industry event no less, openly argued with the raksha mantri. hate it or like it, it shows their attitude which is always aggressive and pushing the boundaries. in our case, we turn the other cheek all the time, and such stuff is the result.

irrespective of ms khobragades family antecedents, babu vs rest and all such stuff, this issue reflects on India as a state. it should not be swept under the rug.

if this does not offend us, we should see the treatment to kalam as well. he has served the nation with grace and dignity. another indian diplomat was also stopped and searched (a lady) when she was on her way to some investment conference a year or so back in the US. such stuff is happening too regularly, and india should for dignitys sake, take a stand.

its not just US per se, but a long list of countries wherein we turn the other cheek for no good reason.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 18 Dec 2013 08:02

Rahul M,
"established" not same as "legal". I have some more comments on one of your posts in this thread. hope to get them in before everybody switches context.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 18 Dec 2013 08:07

Question: is the residence of the dcg sovereign territory of india? If so how does min wage law apply?

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 18 Dec 2013 08:10

MMS habitual to take instructions from Gora fellows. He got no guts to do any right things. What do you expect? Even this action I am sure take in the fear of Modi attacking the mafia for not retaliating.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 18 Dec 2013 08:13

matrimc, it is not but US officials engage in a far larger number of such established but illegal activities in India. both sides carry on on the basis of quid-pro-quo. in many cases the law is yet to catch up with the times or specific instances and countries act on the basis of spirit of the law rather than letter of it.
for example, partners of US consular officials have been provided spouse visas by India, even though they were not married.

Prasad, the maid worked at the diplomat's residence, which I presume was not at the embassy.

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 18 Dec 2013 08:15

**partly DELETED in response to Rahul's post

On the topic of retaliation, what is the point of asking about the pay offered to Indian workers at the consulate? Isn't it going to be higher? And, even if they way paid in petty US dollars, isn't it going to beat ordinary Indian salary? Not sure I understand that part of so called "retaliation"?

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 18 Dec 2013 08:17

^^Rahul M
Absolutely, It is pretty shameful to see fellow Indians justifying US actions even in this case, and we need a Pisko analysis from the good old doctor to understand this level of self hatred and contempt for fellow Indians. With this single high handed action US has managed to lose a lot of good will amongst the diplomats, politicians, and even a large segment of mango Indian.

In this case the US may be well within its legal rights to arrest the diplomat. In my opinion, this is hardly an incident worth this level of humiliating mistreatment of a diplomat of a supposedly strategic partner. Followed the procedure. My foot. It has always been an unwritten understanding of give and take that sustains the Diplomatic privileges and courtesies. In most cases, the US always gets more than it gives with most countries. India is no exception. If India subjects the US diplomats to the letter of the law, half if not all of them will be in Indian prison.

Now we hear of potential tax evasion, indulging in illegal sexual acts, wage discrimination based on race (Indian consular officer is paid lesser than the American counterpart for similar work) besides other issues.

I think this is a good opportunity for India to set things right. Strict reciprocity should become the norm. There is no need to treat the diplomats of US or any other nations, better than our own. If this situation leads to that, then that would be the silver lining. In this particular case only an arrest of US diplomat as retaliation, if, they had broken Indian law and committed a crime will send the message across clearly.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 18 Dec 2013 08:24

chanakyaa, on the contrary, the whole world of diplomacy is built upon 'tacit understanding' and 'established practice'. laws can't be changed for a handful of diplomats who make a miniscule percentage of the population.

@rgsrini, it should start by scaling down of the obscenely huge area granted to the US embassy in delhi. the place is like a fort complex, with numerous watch towers and searchlights.

Vriksh · Post by **Vriksh** » 18 Dec 2013 08:26

The Congress Party of India like the Pakistani Armed forces is finding out the hard way what being "friends/strategic partners" with the great Khan is. As soon as you become a liability/do not deliver the party trick expected of a running dog you are kicked to the curb ala Saddam or you get humiliated/ put to pasture/excavated and hanged. Deyyani Khobragade/IFS/Indian Prestige/Diplomatic Niceties etc are acceptable collateral damage to the US power elite. Today the USGov may not want to support Congress Party or may want it to give more than to it than it is willing or capable. However when the US appointed Congress thekedars do not deliver the goods and services demanded then there will be public whippings ala Khobragade et al. If like the Pakistan Army you accept the humiliation meekly and comply with US demand then some kind of face saving exercise will be created and sold for public consumption and life goes on.

Sadly The US has a lot of pressure points on Indian Elite/Congress Party which it can apply in a calibrated fashion at a time of its choosing.
1) They fired the first salvo by humiliating a Congress party loyal IFS officer in public assuming correctly that Indians will start blaming themselves and infighting while Americans Officials to a manjack will never concede any wrong doing hiding behind legislation.
2) Tomorrow a couple of incursions across the LOC via Pakistan
3) A few detentions across the LAC with a wink and nudge via China
4) Reduction in H1B visas etc
5) Calibrated arrests of high profile Indians in the USA preferably by brown sepoys.
6) Start investigating Congress Party anti-Sikh pogroms creating new pressure points

Result: the Congress party of India will be forced to run back to the great Khan tails tucked. All this is a result of the great disparity in power and influence of the Indian republic compared to that of the USA. More worrying proportionately India's influence in the world has actually reduced with time and is in my opinion at its nadir today. This is partly due to the a handover of world leadership by Congress Party to the USA. Question is whether the BJP is also similarly compromised?

However this is not the time when India should start bickering about who is Congress and who is BJP. Our support should be totally towards the prestige of India which has been insulted is should not be subjected to partisan politics of any kind. Things will be much worse before they get better.

There may be many here who believe that the USA needs India more than we need them. This is patently untrue it is infact the reverse holds and desperately so. There is almost nothing that the US buys from us they cannot get from other nations. Whereas the US shapes the Indian security environment by various means.

We have never created trouble for the US/UK and desperately avoid conflict since that is the DNA implanted in our leadership since independence (perhaps even earlier) and every leader who showed initiative was terminated by one reason or the other thereby selectively breeding docility to outside interests.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 18 Dec 2013 08:30

LokeshC wrote:JEM sir, Exactly!

How can the unsubstantiated claim about Indians being "hot points" in trafficking and abuse justify throwing the law to the wind and throwing the book at her for what looks like a payment dispute. This could (and usually would) have been settled out of court.

I suspect another angle here. NY cops are known to be vicious racists (stop and frisk program etc) and cops in the US are getting increasingly militarized with an "us vs them" mentality. For them any brown person == any other brown person. A brown person needs lesser amount of evidence to be punished for a crime than does a white person. I suspect that the unsubstantiated claim of Indians being the "hot points" here points to the same mentality.

Occam's Razor: This looks like a gaffe from NYPD. Although it is highly plausible that it was done with knowledge from FoggyBottom and co to send a message to India.

I doubt it involves NYPD. US Attorney is a federal official, and reports say that Devyani was handed over to US Marshals, who are federal employees. In other words, they all report up to Obama and not the mayor of NYC.

One feeling I get from this case is that even IFS officers posted in the USA don't seem to take the trouble to understand thoroughly the legal and political system in the US, and how it works on the ground.

While agreeing that the arrest of Devyani is absurd--given that literally millions of people in America violate the minimum wage laws and there are hardly any criminal prosecutions, I also wonder why the contract with Richard was not written in a such a way as to show that minimum wage is being paid, but amounts for accommodation and other facilities are being deducted. Did they take the help of a lawyer in drafting a boilerplate contract for domestic employees of Indian consular officials? Doesn't seem like it, instead they seem to have assumed that Americans will "understand their difficulty" and wink at the disparity between the contract and actual payment.

I don't agree that having a domestic help is a sign of arrogance or "Indian attitude." In America or India, a busy professional couple with children will need some kind of domestic help, part-time or full-time. It is a fine idea to say that they should do their own work etc., but it is not practical.

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 18 Dec 2013 08:33

.... If India subjects the US diplomats to the letter of the law, half if not all of them will be in Indian prison.

Now we hear of potential tax evasion, indulging in illegal sexual acts, wage discrimination based on race (Indian consular officer is paid lesser than the American counterpart for similar work) besides other issues.
....

If this is the case, building a case for GoI should be a piece of cake, no?

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 18 Dec 2013 08:36

Let me float a CT.

If this incident spoils relations between India and the US, who benefits, hain?

saumitra_j · Post by **saumitra_j** » 18 Dec 2013 08:38

Vriksh wrote:There is almost nothing that the US buys from us they cannot get from other nations. Whereas the US shapes the Indian security environment by various means.

And there is nothing that we buy from the US that we cannot get elsewhere so let's not get overboard on this. Indian problems will get resolved in next 2-3 decades, India will be a HUGE market but I think US has ensured it will stay away from it by all these things.They have been tactically brilliant on this like our friendly neighbourhood Pakis.

The good news is that everytime the US has kicked India, we have come out stronger and better. Take the LCA as an example. They kicked us on the FCS, we made our own and do not need them anymore. Take the case of Param: When they denied CRAY, we built on our own. I am hoping that a fallout of this crisis will be that we will get our act together in aero engine development and have our own engine flying in aircrafts in a decade from now.

When NaMo becomes the PM, he is unlikely to either forgive or forget and the US will soon realize that.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 18 Dec 2013 08:39

KLNMurthy wrote:Let me float a CT.

If this incident spoils relations between India and the US, who benefits, hain?

Perhaps the Americans should have thought of the consequences, hain?

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 18 Dec 2013 08:41

a_bharat wrote:There was/is a gay US diplomat in Delhi. If he is still in India, may be it is time to apply Sec. 377 to him.

That would be one way to ensure that India gets lots of negative press in America. Right now, US MSM has ignored the story. You can be sure that they won't ignore the targeting of gay Americans, and you can be sure they won't see it as justified retaliation onlee.

Persecuting gays is a no-win dumbhead move, it will lose India support among a very wide spectrum in America and the West, including gen-2 Indians.

The current problem is in part due to lack of good understanding of how the US works; proposed solution like Art 377 is symptom of same lack of understanding.

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 18 Dec 2013 08:48

^^Chanakyaa,
I would think so. That is what the GOI seems to be threatning them with and moving towards. Even Jaswant Sinha was asking the GOI to target known gays (illegal as per Indian law and recent pronouncement of SC) within the consulate. IMO, the GOI is being way too soft and I am hoping this will trigger some kind of proportionate response. Repeated provocations from US (arrest of diplomat's daughter, slapping of a million dollar fine a couple of years back, and cavity search, humiliation of Shri Kalam at the airport, besides several others) have not resulted in retaliation. But the cavity search of an Indian lady affects us (most Indians) deeply and hopefully the outrage will lead to some meaningful parity between US and india in diplomatic relationship.

India should use this opportunity to institutionalize a tit for tat response mechanism within its diplomatic SOP for every provocative incident (major or minor).

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 18 Dec 2013 08:50

KLNMurthy,

Persecuting gays is a no-win dumbhead move, it will lose India support among a very wide spectrum in America and the West, including gen-2 Indians.

Not anymore dumbheaded than what the US did to the Indian diplomat. US should have thought about the consequences before its highhanded action on an Indian diplomat. It is the Indian law and US should learn to respect it and not break it.

saumitra_j · Post by **saumitra_j** » 18 Dec 2013 08:52

KLNMurthy wrote:Persecuting gays is a no-win dumbhead move, it will lose India support among a very wide spectrum in America and the West, including gen-2 Indians.The current problem is in part due to lack of good understanding of how the US works; proposed solution like Art 377 is symptom of same lack of understanding.

And why is support of Gen 2 Indians or others so important? We are getting screwed anyway, with or without their support. I agree with you that we lack an understanding of how the US works: The US only understands you if you have them by the ba11s - else the US does what it feels like. The sooner Indians understand this, the better it will be.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 18 Dec 2013 08:53

since this is CT season...

kerry of the kerry-langur bill is earning his street cred with pak this way, which would be useful in negotiations on afg. US' local law enforcement would naturally be gung-ho about prosecuting foreign diplomats but it takes the SD approval to go ahead.

rgsrini, there are a million other things that can be done, acting against gays is not needed.

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 18 Dec 2013 08:55

Rahul M,
As long as we have a way to retaliate, I am ok with it. It does not have to be against gays at all. But proportionate retaliation is a must

saumitra_j · Post by **saumitra_j** » 18 Dec 2013 08:58

rgsrini wrote:Rahul M,
As long as we have a way to retaliate, I am ok with it. It does not have to be against gays at all. But proportionate retaliation is a must

+108

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 18 Dec 2013 09:01

Wage differential of local consular staff is probably the easiest. Does the US wages apply for those working on US territory (US Embassy) ?

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 18 Dec 2013 09:02

Rahul M wrote:@rgsrini, it should start by scaling down of the obscenely huge area granted to the US embassy in delhi. the place is like a fort complex, with numerous watch towers and searchlights.

Has always been a pet peeve of mine, especially after having visited the miniscule NY embassy. forget the concrete barricades, they don't even have a stray dog for security. What a shocker!

vina · Post by **vina** » 18 Dec 2013 09:04

You can be sure that they won't ignore the targeting of gay Americans, and you can be sure they won't see it as justified retaliation onlee.

There are lots of things that can be done. Targeting them for an equal equal minimum wage (eg, there is a min wage at which any foreigner can be employed in India) are easy to do , the govt asking for info on that is a clear shot across the bows.

Even if you want to target someone for being gay, a clear first step would be to cancel the visa for the companion of that person. The govt has already said that article 377 would not be applied. However, it could come out and say that all the laws on the books will be applicable only to American diplomats and not lay Americans and not to lay persons of other nationality and other diplomats.

This entire episode is so stupid, it reeks of some idiots in the SD losing their marbles and doing something very idiotic.

a_bharat · Post by **a_bharat** » 18 Dec 2013 09:05

Narayana Rao wrote:MMS habitual to take instructions from Gora fellows. He got no guts to do any right things. What do you expect? Even this action I am sure take in the fear of Modi attacking the mafia for not retaliating.

Indeed, Sankarshan Thakur (Telegraph/Cong/US) was lamenting on Arnab's show last night, had it not been because of the "churlish" atmosphere created by Modi, none of the bad things (recent GOI actions) would have happened.

BTW, Chidanand Rajghatta on the show also came across as a "House Nigger" (we now have the new term "Brown Sepoy" -- but it sounds too mild to me).

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 18 Dec 2013 09:11

If I CongI had even one little patriotic bone some where deep within its spineless body , time to show it by conducting a series of Nuke tests . The CongI govt is anyway a lameduck govt - so it can well do this favor to India before the new govt steps in.

Actually this must be the norm. Every outgoing govt must conduct nuke tests and then bow out.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 18 Dec 2013 09:20

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/left-r ... topstories
Very interesting comments by everyone, including AMS and Tharoor on the prevailing understanding among diplomats and consulate workers on these issues and how it is all done under a system of mutual understanding. Also, pliss to learn how to score own-goals from nidhi razdan. Heck, even Sid Varadarajan makes sense.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 18 Dec 2013 09:22

Good thing is that this has exposed lots of house niggers like Rajeev Srinivasan, that Bhambra character, T P Sreenivasan, Indian media stationed in the us. Etc.

Am sure Ganga din MMS will be happy with an unconditional apology but even he will be perfectly fine when it doesn't happen.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 18 Dec 2013 09:33

There are some in Indian right (like Nitin Pai,Rajeev Srinivasan etc) who should be treated as coverts to the massa interests. Their regular airing of views on issues which have Indo-US repercussions - be it FDI in defense , Retail etc should be seen in this context and the precisely opposing view point must be taken as the truer one representing nationalist interests.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Dec 2013 09:34

I have a simple question - does India have to pay rent to the landlord for its consulates abroad - surely yes. the consulate in NYC was in a lane in the upper east side...probably costs a bomb to rent a building there. do we get any special facilities like free water/electricity/gardening/police - surely not.

what is the RENT and UTILITIES being paid by the foreign consulates who have been granted a swathe of the most valuable real estate in india in chanyakapuri by JLN ? these must be disclosed and adjusted upto whatever is the rate of similar adjacent locality like prithviraj road and aurangzeb road. rents must be adjusted each year. just the land alone of the US consulate would be 1000s of crore value. everyone needs to stop getting these free meals and start paying. if they cannot pay (poor but friendly countries), let them stay but the wealthy anglospheric nations, france , germany et al can surely pay if they want giant embassies OR its their right to seek and rent another facility somewhere cheaper whatever they can best afford. they can also downsize to reduce expenses.

WATER, ELECTRICITY, HORTICULTURE and UPKEEP of the posh roads must all be reflected in the dues there.

for the short term they will fly into rage at losing their pampered status and their free palaces but in long term they will fall in line.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 18 Dec 2013 09:39

Embarrassing failure of US protocol: Devyani Khobragade's attorney

Meanwhile, an eminent Indian American attorney said that immunity-attempt would not prevail in the court.

"Immunity-attempt, however, will not prevail in court as a matter of law, but ought to prevail as part of our foreign relations so as to protect American diplomats serving abroad," said Ravi Batra, who represents the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Indian Congress in the US court cases.

Mr Batra expressed concern at the turn of events and "call for an immediate graceful resolution" to avoid damage to much larger American interests in bilateral and multilateral context.

"With the initial shock and awe of the diplomat-arrest diminished and reactive-popular unhappiness on the rise, which inherently reduces the "flexibility" of pre-election nations, the legalities of immunity or alleged immigration fraud notwithstanding, the Executive Branch, which includes Departments of State and Justice, ought to recalibrate its exclusive constitutional discretion," Mr Batra said.

Diplomats are frequently asked by the receiving-nations to leave either due to crimes committed in such receiving-nation or as a political rebuke of the sending nation for some recent disfavoured act in the comity of nations, he noted.

"But, they are not arrested. Peculiar about this arrest is not its legality," he said. "But that despite the existence of sound diplomatic and prosecutorial discretions not-to-criminally-charge, which is the diplomatic norm amongst nations, criminal charges were levelled, and that too with a maximum insult-causing public arrest effectuated, as opposed to a normal and more dignified surrender pre-arranged with the lawyer for the accused.

"We have had Americans, diplomats and others engage in illegal prostitution on foreign soil, which was criminally-chargeable - yet charges were not levelled and arrests did not occur. We have had a non-diplomat Robert Davis in Pakistan calmly kill two guys in defence of American national security, and a graceful exit was properly arranged and generous "wrongful death" compensation paid," Mr Batra added said.

He cautioned that sound judgement requires that a graceful exit out of this bilateral mess occur expeditiously, if American diplomats overseas are to be afforded maximum dignity - a vital and non-negotiable American interest, especially, after Benghazi.

"One such resolution is to legally permit DCG Khobragade to leave the United States and never return in exchange for dismissing the criminal charges or in full satisfaction of her criminal charges," Mr Batra said.

Yeah so much for the rule adhering US civil servants. It is easier to dig some dirt out if needed by GoI.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 18 Dec 2013 09:52

A criminal case (perjury on the visa form) is State vs. the person and is not "Attorney playing dirty"

Preet Singh is actually a State Attorney what we call in India a "Sarkari Vakil" .

Please read my post.

I do know that criminal cases can only be taken up by the state attorney. I have been in the US long enough to know that fact. The thing is, someone has to file a complaint and provide evidence to Mr. Preet. Who could that be? The maid or an immigration attorney she hired?

Question is, at the moment this was complaint was filed and evidence provided. What did Mr. Preet and NYPD do? Instead of trying to work this out diplomatically, they chose to make an "example" of what could happen "anyone" including a state representative of India. Civilizing the savages eh? This is the reason why I am saying Mr. Preet acted like uncle Tom.

The US Attorney is a job that does not have a parallel in India. He is a federal law enforcement official who has very wide latitude in going after anyone he wants in his jurisdiction. No complaint is required in most cases. It is often a stepping stone for lawyers with drive and political ambition. "Uncle Tom" nature or otherwise of Bharara has probably not much to do with it. For a Harvard-Columbia guy with top academic honors to take a relatively very low-paying job like US attorney strongly suggests that he is bent on a political career or maybe a judgeship in federal court, leading up to supreme court.

Again, some of the comments on this thread as well as the whole miserable situation with DK show a lack o applying the mind diligently to master the details of the US system, and making all sorts of careless mistakes and assumptions, usually in small details, but it all adds up to getting a distorted picture of what is going on and what to expect. We should be more intelligent than this. Even scanning wikipedia will give lots of useful information which the IFS people and also many on this thread seem to be lacking.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 18 Dec 2013 10:03

SBajwa wrote:The real problem is economic disparity and the "help" that these "diplomats" bring with them.

easiest solution is for Indian government is to hire "Maids" by calling the affordable maids (I have nothing to do with this business)., why do you need people from India to come work in U.S.A? These people who come from india don't want to go back and thus there is problem.

Indian government is the problem they need to figure out this issue of people wanting their servants with them in U.S.A!!

BTW.. I got to go out and clean my 150*40 '. drive way full of 6" snow!! and no help!! it is a back breaking work but a very good workout for myself (around 30 minutes)!!

Sandeep,

I can't imagine how a working couple with young kids can do without some kind of help, call her a nanny or domestic help. Further, diplomats are expected to entertain (sometimes a lot of people) as part of their jobs. It is a bit unfair to somehow link the fact that diplomats have personal staff to Indians' desire for domestic help or how they treat them (which is an independent issue worth discussing but not necessarily in this context).

Furthermore, the Vienna conventions specifically provide for personal staff for consular officials, who are not subject to work permit and labor laws and regulations of the host country, like the diplomats themselves. So not sure whether that was invoked while applying for a visa for the nanny and if so, why an undertaking about paying minimum wages was required.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 18 Dec 2013 10:04

KLNMurthy wrote: Again, some of the comments on this thread as well as the whole miserable situation with DK show a lack o applying the mind diligently to master the details of the US system, and making all sorts of careless mistakes and assumptions, usually in small details, but it all adds up to getting a distorted picture of what is going on and what to expect. We should be more intelligent than this. Even scanning wikipedia will give lots of useful information which the IFS people and also many on this thread seem to be lacking.

Doesn't matter. This was signed off by the state dept. Local law enforcement only has so much power. This wasn't just a case of the local DA trying to act all heroic and up his political aura.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 18 Dec 2013 10:04

Lilo wrote:If I CongI had even one little patriotic bone some where deep within its spineless body , time to show it by conducting a series of Nuke tests . The CongI govt is anyway a lameduck govt - so it can well do this favor to India before the new govt steps in.

Actually this must be the norm. Every outgoing govt must conduct nuke tests and then bow out.

So every time our consular staff in foreign countries commits serious breach of law in that country and gets arrested for that, we should be conducting nuke tests?

( I am not saying that we should not conduct nuke tests, if we need to do more tests, we should.)

a_bharat · Post by **a_bharat** » 18 Dec 2013 10:06

KLNMurthy wrote: Again, some of the comments on this thread as well as the whole miserable situation with DK show a lack o applying the mind diligently to master the details of the US system, and making all sorts of careless mistakes and assumptions, usually in small details, but it all adds up to getting a distorted picture of what is going on and what to expect. We should be more intelligent than this. Even scanning wikipedia will give lots of useful information which the IFS people and also many on this thread seem to be lacking.

If your loyalties are with the US, fine, but please spare us your "understanding the US system" BS.

The US could have handled the situation much better, but they chose to behave arrogantly and/or with malintent. India should retaliate to make up for the current and all previous high-handed actions against Indian dignataries.

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 18 Dec 2013 10:08

For perspective, I hope people realize that cavity search etc etc, is just a doublespeak for custodial rape. What was done to Devyani Khoragabade is no different from what Tarun Tejpal did to his victim.

In India we call pushing finger tips into people without their consent and with force rape.

Let us be clear, US has used institutionalized rape on our lady diplomat.

I am appalled that the matter is made of US laws, what next public stoning to death because some EvanJihadi called an Indian a kaffir ? Should we submit to that since its US "laws"