New Delhi/Washington: Efforts to resolve the Indo-US diplomatic standoff over senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s arrest continued on Saturday with both sides stating that they are in “conversations” to find a way out.
Publicly their common refrain was that the bilateral relationship was extremely valuable, though Washington continued to harp on their line that Khobragade would not enjoy diplomatic immunity “retroactively”.
She has since been transferred to the Indian Mission to the UN to give her full immunity.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid maintained his conciliatory tone when he termed the relationship “extremely exceptionally valuable”, a sentiment reciprocated by the US State Department which said, “it is important to preserve and protect our partnership”.
Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi, “We are in a conversation at different levels. Let the conversation go to its logical conclusion.”
In Washington, a State Department Spokesperson said the US was “continuing the conversation with our Indian counterparts privately” to resolve the situation arising out of the arrest and strip search of Khobragade in a visa fraud case.
Asking the US to “understand the value of the relationship”, Khurshid asked whether it was “unreasonable” for India to expect Washington to allow its diplomat to serve with dignity.
The State Department maintained that even if there was a change in the status of Khobragade from being Deputy Consul General with limited immunity to being posted to the UN mission where she gets full immunity, there would not be a “clean slate” from the past charges.
However, the US assertion that retroactive immunity is not possible flies in the face of precedents such as the one involving a Saudi prince in 1982 when he was accused of holding an Egyptian woman against her will in Dade County in Florida state.
Observers say that at the time of the incident, Prince Abdulaziz had no diplomatic credentials.
But three weeks later, the State Department granted Abdulaziz and his family full diplomatic immunity.
The Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Dade County’s counter claims and held that the Prince had been eligible for diplomatic status at the time of the incident even if he had not received it.
The Court ruling, in effect, endorsed the concept of retroactive immunity. (PTI)
Rights groups demand ‘justice’ for maid
New York: Several rights groups representing domestic workers in the US have protested outside the Indian Consulate here demanding “justice” for senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s maid, saying officials cannot use diplomatic immunity to “escape” accountability for their actions
The National Domestic Workers Alliance led the an hour-long demonstrations yesterday, with participation from other groups like Safe Horizon, the victim assistance agency representing Khobragade’s maid Sangeeta Richard, Damayan Migrant Workers Association and National Guestworker Alliance.
A 1999-batch IFS officer, 39-year-old Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on visa fraud charges as she was dropping her daughter to school and released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court. “We are calling for a fair trial and compensation for Richard.
There is a larger issue here about diplomatic immunity and about how do we provide basic labour protections for all domestic workers not just in the US but globally as well,” Yomara Velez of the National Domestic Workers Alliance told PTI.
Velez said just like other workers, domestic workers need to be respected and treated with dignity as they work very hard to raise the children of their employers and take care of their homes. “We want that the domestic workers be treated with dignity and respect,” she added.
The rights groups said Richard’s case is not an isolated one but a “systemic problem” where diplomats usually “get away” in cases of exploitation and labour laws are not implemented for workers.
Nearly 50 people gathered outside the Indian Consulate building amid police presence shouting slogans like “What do we want – justice, when do we want it – now”, “They say diplomatic immunity, we say accountability”, “They say protect the traffickers, we say protect the workers” and “Diplomatic immunity has got to go”. (PTI)