Bharat Rakshak

Wasn't PB appointed by Obama?

BijuShet wrote: 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 government on Wednesday gave the American Embassy in New Delhi a week’s time to close down a multi-purpose club on its premises, running in violation of the Geneva Convention.

The club includes a bar, pool, beauty parlour, restaurant, bowling alley and tennis courts. Outsiders including Indian government officials, businessmen and journalists were entertained at the club which was meant only for American Embassy diplomats.

India generally overlooks this misuse by embassies but has reeled in exceptions to U.S. diplomats after a fall out between the two countries over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York on December 12.

India began withdrawing all special privileges to the U.S. Embassy and the consulate staff, not extended to its staff posted in America. Last week, the government asked the U.S. Culture Centre to not screen movies as it didn’t have a licence for the purpose. After a Monday evening meeting between U.S. Ambassador Nancy Powell and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh saw no movement on the Khobragade issue, officials spoke of implementing more measures.

India is seeking an apology from the U.S. and withdrawal of charges against the diplomat. The crackdown on quasi-commercial establishments in the Embassy and instructions not to make exceptions for the U.S. embassy are part of the approach to treat U.S. Counsellors on par with Indian Counsellors in the U.S.

Identity cards giving special privileges to U.S. diplomats in consulates have already been recalled and replaced with ones that put them on par with their Indian counterparts in the U.S. Their airport passes have been cancelled and barricades outside the U.S. embassy have been removed as part of this “reciprocity”.

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - India ordered the United States on Wednesday to close down an embassy club for expatriate Americans in New Delhi, escalating a diplomatic row between the two nations that has brought faultlines in their ties out in the open. Furious at the arrest, handcuffing and strip search of its deputy consul in New York last month, India initially reacted by curtailing privileges offered to U.S. diplomats. The officer, Devyani Khobragade, was accused by prosecutors of underpaying her nanny and lying on a visa application, Still festering nearly a month on, the row has started to affect the wider relationship between the world's two largest democracies, with one high-level visit by a senior U.S. official already postponed and a visit scheduled for next week by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz looking doubtful. Both sides have said the relationship is important and will not be allowed to deteriorate - Washington needs New Delhi on its side as U.S. troops pull out of Afghanistan and it engages with China. Millions of Indians have made the United States their home and bilateral trade is worth about $100 billion a year. But the row over Khobragade, which should not have been more than an easily resolved irritant, is just not going away and has plunged the two countries into a crisis described by Indian media as the worst since New Delhi tested a nuclear device in 1998. "I'm a little worried it may spin out of control," said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States who has also served as India's top diplomat and is now retired. India stepped up the pressure on Wednesday ahead of a January 13 court appearance where Khobragade could be indicted, ordering the U.S. embassy in Delhi to stop receiving non-diplomats at an embassy club popular with expatriate Americans for its swimming pool, restaurant and bar. Americans working in the Indian capital have been frequenting the club for decades. The embassy said it had no comment to make on the move. Despite an overall improvement in ties since the end of the Cold War, the dispute has brought into the open the lingering wariness between the two countries. Over the past year, there has been increasing friction over trade, intellectual property rights and visas for Indian IT workers. There is also a legacy of mistrust between the both sides, with some Indian officials whose professional life began when India was a close partner of the Soviet Union still not convinced Washington is a reliable ally. Despite close security and economic cooperation now, many officials recall U.S. support of Pakistan, India's old enemy, and some quietly believe the United States sees a strong India as a threat. "For 50 years we were led to believe that the United States was an adversary. For the last 10 years we have been experimenting with a strategic partnership. It is not a done deal." said Mansingh. Among some U.S. diplomats there is a perception that while India insists on respect and friendship from Washington, it fails to deliver either in support on issues such as Iran or Afghanistan, or by giving enough commercial access to U.S. businesses. MORE RETALIATION To defuse the spat, India wants the U.S. State Department to approve Khobragade's transfer to its U.N. mission in New York, a move it believes would give her immunity from prosecution. If that doesn't happen before the U.S. government commences a preliminary hearing or files an indictment, India could unleash more retaliation measures, a government source with knowledge of the affair told Reuters. U.S. officials hope for a resolution to the Khobragade row through some sort of plea-bargaining process. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has said Indian officials were in touch with the U.S. Justice Department. If the row persists, the next casualty could be the trip by Moniz, due in Delhi later this month for a round of talks to promote trade and investment in the energy sector, the government source in New Delhi said. The talks usually include discussions of civil nuclear trade between Indian and the United States. For now, the trip has not been cancelled. However, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, has postponed her first visit to India, which was due on January 6, to avoid it becoming embroiled in the dispute. Harf said Biswal would visit India as soon as possible, but no date had yet been set. India is also preparing to take steps against the American Embassy School, which it suspects may be employing some staff in violation of tax and visa requirements, the government source said. Along with the embassy club, the highly respected school is the heart of Delhi life for the families of many expatriate employees of U.S. corporations in India. "Has an era of steadily improving ties between the two countries come to an end?" asked Indian Human Resource Minister Shashi Tharoor in a column published this week. "Indian-American relations had been strengthening owing to both sides' shared commitment to democracy, common concerns about China, and increasing trade and investment," wrote Tharoor, a former senior U.N. official who unsuccessfully contested for the Secretary-General's post in 2007. "The Khobragade affair suggests, however, that all this is not enough: sustaining a strategic partnership requires, above all, mutual respect." LEGACY As the two countries drew closer over the past decade, the United States had high hopes India would emerge as a counterbalance to a rising China and a new engine for the U.S. economy. However, there is a widespread sense the relationship has drifted since India's 2009 nuclear deal with the Bush administration marked a sharp improvement. Anti-Indian feeling has grown among the U.S. corporate lobby. Indian sourcing rules for retail, IT, medicine and clean energy technology are contentious and U.S. companies gripe about "unfair" imports from India of everything from shrimp to steel pipes. In June, more than 170 U.S. lawmakers signed a letter to Obama about Indian policies they said threatened U.S. jobs. Now, with general elections due in India in four months, and mid-term elections in the United States in November, the fear is that the current row will make it harder for both sides to stick their necks out and make progress on thorny issues such as liability for nuclear equipment suppliers. "There is such a long laundry list of concerns on the American side that seem to be ignored or slow rolled in India,' said Persis Khambatta at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. "The risk is that this incident will dig up a lot of frustration that had built up." (Additional reporting by Aruna Viswanatha and Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Joseph Ax in New York and Sruthi Gottipati in New Delhi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/world/india-te ... ef_article

Kerry won many debates against other college students from across the nation.[9] In March 1965, as the Vietnam War escalated, he won the Ten Eyck prize as the best orator in the junior class for a speech that was critical of U.S. foreign policy. In the speech he said, "It is the spectre of Western imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism and thus, it is self-defeating."[10]

Sanjay wrote:Question - we need to consider life without US. If diplomatic relations are downgraded, what happens to trade and imports from the US ?

V_Raman wrote:If I take my CT hat off, what would have been the Indian reaction if there was no intrusive searches but just plain arrest/subsequent-bail? Maybe the intrusive searches were unintentional?

US energy secretary Ernest Moniz will no longer travel to India as planned next week, an energy department official said on Wednesday, the most serious repercussion yet in a dispute over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.

With less than a week left for Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's formal indictment in New York for visa fraud, New Delhi's pressure on the American embassy here has begun to hit where it hurts.

Two fresh diplomatic notes verbales accessed by Mail Today reveal that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) wants the embassy's club shut down and the sale of duty-free liquor within it to end.

The commissary in the US Embassy in New Delhi that sells duty-free liquor is not allowed to do so, and this should be discontinued, one of the notes verbales says.
"We have a suspicion that the US commissary is making profits by selling duty-free liquor and other items to diplomats from other countries. This must stop immediately," an MEA source told Mail Today.

The US commissary, which sells duty-free liquor, wine and exotic foreign goods at cheap prices, is favoured by many Western diplomats.

The second diplomatic note confirms what Mail Today reported earlier - that the government has sent a formal notice to the embassy to shut the American Club situated near its Gate E.

The club, whose official name is the American Community Support Association (ACSA), has a restaurant, swimming pool, soccer field, tennis court besides a host of facilities used by American diplomats and US nationals in India.
New Delhi's note verbale says that the US is violating diplomatic protocol by running a beauty salon, restaurant and other facilities

Eateries at the club include the Out of India Restaurant, Delhi Diner Snack Bar, The Great Escape Bar, Windward Café Poolside Bar, besides the Cafeteria.

The club also has a gymnasium, swimming pool, and bowling alley besides a gift shop and a DVD rental shop.

The note verbale says that the US is violating diplomatic protocol by running a beauty salon, restaurant and other facilities, and that these should be shut within 10 days.

ACSA has seven categories of members, including non-diplomats in categories such as guest members, affiliate members, and affiliate special members. It also provides membership to diplomats of other countries who also make duty free purchases at the commissary.
SPECIAL STATUS TO UNCLE SAM

Officials say many non-diplomats, including some persons from the corporate world, have been allowed duty-free purchases as well as use of the facilities in violation of all norms.

The ongoing tussle will hurt the diplomatic community, especially their families, who have enjoyed the facilities at the American club.

The decision is clearly the fallout of the Devyani Khobragade incident, but MEA officials say that it also sets right a diplomatic anomaly as the Indian mission in the US has never enjoyed the special diplomatic privileges the US has been given here.

India has already told US interlocutors that Indo-US ties will come under severe strain if the US prosecutor Preet Bharara goes ahead with framing charges against Devyani, a development that will make the case even more complex.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has been asked to look into alleged service tax violations by the US mission.

An air ticket purchased by the US embassy for the husband and family of Devyani's maid Sangeeta Richard, who along with her family is now under the protection of the US Department of Homeland Security, has come in for specific mention.

Also under the scanner are movie screenings at the American Centre in New Delhi and similar other centres. The proposal suggests that the US was organising these screenings without any permissions or censor certificates, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will be asked to examine this.

Another recommendation that forms part of the MEA's proposals is related to an understanding of 1973 between India and the US that exempted 16 employees of the American School from paying taxes.

This concession has been misused by the US mission and no American School staffer pays taxes now. This has also being referred to the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.

The MEA also wants to examine employment contracts of all local employees and make it mandatory for the US mission to file all contracts with the MEA.

These measures form part of a set of proposals aimed at putting pressure on the US establishment to make them realise the seriousness of the situation.

Devyani seeks extension of indictment deadline
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has sought a one-month extension of the deadline for charging her in the visa fraud case, but her plea has been opposed by the prosecution.

The move came as the US said on Tuesday that it wants to resolve the ordeal as soon as possible.

Khobragade has requested an extension of the January 13 indictment deadline, saying the pressure of the impending deadline is interfering with the ability of the parties to have meaningful discussions.

India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara's office is required to file charges against the 39-year-old diplomat within 30 days of her arrest.

However, in a request submitted late on Monday with Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Khobragade's counsel sought a postponement of the preliminary hearing date, currently scheduled for January 13, and an extension of the indictment deadline by 30 days to February 12, 2014.

"Significant communications have been had between the prosecution and the defence and among other government officials and it is our strong view that the pressure of the impending deadline is counterproductive to continued communications," Khobragade's counsel Daniel Arshack said in the request.

The lawyer told the judge that he has conferred with the prosecution concerning extending the deadline and has been informed that the prosecution will not seek an extension of the deadline.

"We therefore, wish to inform the court that we waive the 30- day time limit set by the court on December 12, 2013 because we believe that the time limit is interfering with the parties ability to continue to have meaningful discussions," Arshack said in his request.

Responding to Arshack's request, Bharara wrote to the judge that his office is opposed to the extension of the deadline sought by Devyani, saying plea discussions can continue even after she is charged.

"This office remains receptive to continuing the plea discussions that have taken place over the past several weeks. We have participated in hours of discussion in the hope of negotiating a plea that could be entered in Court before January 13," Bharara said.

"Indeed, as recently as Saturday, January 5, the government outlined reasonable parameters for a plea that could resolve the case, to which the defendant has not responded," he added.

The US, meanwhile, stated that it wants the issue to be resolved as soon as possible, with State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf saying: "As I've said, many, many times throughout this whole ordeal, that we don't want this to define our relationship going forward and don't think that it will. We want it to be resolved as soon as possible. Certainly, that's our goal, but we're only part of this process."

Asked if the US was hopeful that the issue would be resolved, Harf said, "Absolutely".
India has sought an US apology and withdrawal of charges against Devyani. The US, however, insists that this is an isolated incident.

Harf said the US is letting the episode run its course, and is focused on where to go from here. PTI

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... z2prRnCgN5

Sanjay wrote: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.

Nandu wrote:U.S. judge denies request for delay in Indian diplomat case
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/ ... 5H20140109

DK will now be under heavy pressure to accept a guilty plea in return for a minimal sentence.

Also, since this is apparently a non-jury case (is it, why?), the judge's ruling might indicate she is predisposed towards the prosecution side.

... corrupt DK to plea bargain and leave egg on Indian face.

Nothing hurts an American like going after his Budweiser and burgers.

This, at least, appears to be the calculation taken by the Indian authorities as a simmering diplomatic row between Delhi and Washington took a new, unlikely turn. In a move designed to hit where it hurts, India is acting to prevent non-diplomats from using a social club located at the US embassy in the heart of Delhi.

The club, which has a bar, swimming pool, gym and restaurant and which is a haven for countless expatriates during the vicious heat of summer, has been here for decades. But Indian officials have told their US counterparts that to allow non-diplomats to visit the facility would be a breach of the Vienna Convention because of the club's tax-free status.

The US officials have reportedly been told they must cease all commercial activities benefiting non-diplomatic staff on its premises by January 16. Hundreds of expatriates, both US and other nationalities, use the club. Whether it could survive without their custom is unclear

The row between India and the United States over the Devyani Khobragade episode is set to go all the way up to the White House. Secretary of state John Kerry is due to meet President Obama on Wednesday evening, even as bureaucracies on both sides have dug in their heels, leading to an impasse in the bitter face-off that has become more toxic with each passing day.

It is clear that political intervention at the highest level will be needed to break the deadlock. The opening comes on Wednesday when the President and the secretary have their first meeting after they repaired for holidays before Christmas. President Obama returned from Hawaii on Monday by which time Kerry had left for the Middle East.

It was at the instance of the bureau of diplomatic security, primed by the US embassy in New Delhi, that the case was initiated against Devyani Khobragade, ignoring the diplomat's own legal initiative through courts in India to bring her housekeeper Sangeeta Richard, who was on the lam with an official Indian passport, to book.

Roperia wrote:Energy sec's and Biswal's trips postponed! Either they are poking a stick in our eye or they decided nothing important can be done till this is resolved.

amit wrote: ...
So the Nai Dilli consulate is not as innocent as they are making out to be. Irrespective of what happens the person(s) who bought the tickets for the SR family must be brought to book.

Nandu wrote:U.S. judge denies request for delay in Indian diplomat case
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/ ... 5H20140109

...
The unusual delay in granting Khobragade G-visa, which would prevent her from any further arrest, has raised the anxiety level among Indian officials as the next day of court hearing fast approaches in New York next week.

"We've received the paperwork. It's under review. I don't have any other details on it, or updates," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.

...