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Meira Kumar cancels meeting with US congressional delegation
In a major snub, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar cancelled her meeting with a senior US Congressional delegation in New Delhi on Monday as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
Kumar, herself a Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who quit the service before joining politics, cancelled the meeting as she felt it was not "appropriate" to meet the Parliamentarians of the US, which has badly treated one of India's senior diplomats, according to sources.
Significantly, national security advisor (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon, who also had a scheduled meeting with the five-member US team, did not meet them, apparently for the same reason.
The delegations comprised of Congressmen George Holding (Republican - North Carolina), Pete Olson (Republican - Texas) David Schweikert (Republican - Arizona), Robert Woodall (Republican - Arizona), Madeleine Bordallo (Democrat - Guam).
Monday's snub came after India reacted sharply to deputy consul general Devyani Khobragade being arrested and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges last week by summoning US ambassador Nancy Powell and issuing a demarche in this regard.
In Washington also the matter was taken up with the US government "forcefully" through the Indian mission.
39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody last week on a street in New York as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.
"We are shocked and appalled at the manner in which she has been humiliated by the US authorities. We have taken it up forcefully with the US government through our embassy in Washington.
"We are also reiterating, in no uncertain terms, to US embassy here that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable," spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs Syed Akabaruddin had said in New Delhi while reacting to the treatment meted out to Khobragade.
Meira Kumar cancels meeting with US congressional delegation - Hindustan Times
Indian diplomat strip searched, Meira Kumar refuses to meet US MPs
India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade was stripped in custody and made to stand with common criminals, drug addicts and sex workers by the New York Police.
39-year-old Dr Khobragade, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer was on her way to drop her children to school when she was stopped by the police and handcuffed in full public view. A shocked, Dr Khobragade protested immediately saying she is a diplomat and enjoys immunity. But there was worse in store. She was handcuffed, taken to a police station where she was stripped and searched.
"This is in grave violation of the Vienna Convention. The US authorities knew she was a diplomat and yet they deliberately humiliated her. The US is well aware of the legal status of the case with the domestic help which was being pursued in a court of law in India. In fact India sought US help in the case. Yet the deliberate insult," sources said.
The New York Police, sources say were "following orders" that came from "higher ups."
"With United Nations in New York, diplomats from across the world live and work there. The New York Police knows better than to arrest and strip search diplomats. This was a move aimed to send a message and test India's response," sources added.
This is the second time the police in New York did so. The first time a diplomat's young daughter was arrested and locked up on false charges. India protested but the feeble protest appears to have emboldened the US further.
But this time India refuses to take it lying down. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday refused to meet a bipartisan US Congressional delegation. "The speaker was extremely angry not because Dr Khobragade is a Dalit, but because the US did this to a woman diplomat, a mother of two. She is impressed by the manner in which Dr Khobragade handled herself with dignity. But as a former diplomat and a woman, Meira Kumar wanted to send a message,'' sources in Parliament said.
Not just Meira Kumar, even Shiv Shankar Menon, the national security advisor refused to meet the US Congressional delegation. "Whatever the provocation, the US government had no business to behave in the manner in which they did. It is not an error of judgement by one police officer. This is far more serious," sources added.
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who has just returned from the US had summoned US ambassador Nancy Powell and protested the treatment meted out to Dr Khobragade.
The government says the matter is being taken up with the US and the ill treatment of the woman diplomat by US is "unacceptable."
"The American violence against Dr Khobragade is nothing short of barbaric. It is shocking that details should come out on a day when the nation is still recovering from the shock of the incident of violence against Nirbhaya. Is there any difference between the criminals who acted against Nirbhaya and the New York authorities who have scarred the children of an able diplomat so horribly," Rajiv Dogra, India's former ambassador to Italy said.
Indian diplomat strip searched, Meira Kumar refuses to meet US MPs : North, News - India Today
In a major snub, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar cancelled her meeting with a senior US Congressional delegation in New Delhi on Monday as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
Kumar, herself a Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who quit the service before joining politics, cancelled the meeting as she felt it was not "appropriate" to meet the Parliamentarians of the US, which has badly treated one of India's senior diplomats, according to sources.
Significantly, national security advisor (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon, who also had a scheduled meeting with the five-member US team, did not meet them, apparently for the same reason.
The delegations comprised of Congressmen George Holding (Republican - North Carolina), Pete Olson (Republican - Texas) David Schweikert (Republican - Arizona), Robert Woodall (Republican - Arizona), Madeleine Bordallo (Democrat - Guam).
Monday's snub came after India reacted sharply to deputy consul general Devyani Khobragade being arrested and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges last week by summoning US ambassador Nancy Powell and issuing a demarche in this regard.
In Washington also the matter was taken up with the US government "forcefully" through the Indian mission.
39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody last week on a street in New York as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a $250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.
"We are shocked and appalled at the manner in which she has been humiliated by the US authorities. We have taken it up forcefully with the US government through our embassy in Washington.
"We are also reiterating, in no uncertain terms, to US embassy here that this kind of treatment to one of our diplomats is absolutely unacceptable," spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs Syed Akabaruddin had said in New Delhi while reacting to the treatment meted out to Khobragade.
Meira Kumar cancels meeting with US congressional delegation - Hindustan Times
Indian diplomat strip searched, Meira Kumar refuses to meet US MPs
India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade was stripped in custody and made to stand with common criminals, drug addicts and sex workers by the New York Police.
39-year-old Dr Khobragade, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer was on her way to drop her children to school when she was stopped by the police and handcuffed in full public view. A shocked, Dr Khobragade protested immediately saying she is a diplomat and enjoys immunity. But there was worse in store. She was handcuffed, taken to a police station where she was stripped and searched.
"This is in grave violation of the Vienna Convention. The US authorities knew she was a diplomat and yet they deliberately humiliated her. The US is well aware of the legal status of the case with the domestic help which was being pursued in a court of law in India. In fact India sought US help in the case. Yet the deliberate insult," sources said.
The New York Police, sources say were "following orders" that came from "higher ups."
"With United Nations in New York, diplomats from across the world live and work there. The New York Police knows better than to arrest and strip search diplomats. This was a move aimed to send a message and test India's response," sources added.
This is the second time the police in New York did so. The first time a diplomat's young daughter was arrested and locked up on false charges. India protested but the feeble protest appears to have emboldened the US further.
But this time India refuses to take it lying down. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday refused to meet a bipartisan US Congressional delegation. "The speaker was extremely angry not because Dr Khobragade is a Dalit, but because the US did this to a woman diplomat, a mother of two. She is impressed by the manner in which Dr Khobragade handled herself with dignity. But as a former diplomat and a woman, Meira Kumar wanted to send a message,'' sources in Parliament said.
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who has just returned from the US had summoned US ambassador Nancy Powell and protested the treatment meted out to Dr Khobragade.
The government says the matter is being taken up with the US and the ill treatment of the woman diplomat by US is "unacceptable."
"The American violence against Dr Khobragade is nothing short of barbaric. It is shocking that details should come out on a day when the nation is still recovering from the shock of the incident of violence against Nirbhaya. Is there any difference between the criminals who acted against Nirbhaya and the New York authorities who have scarred the children of an able diplomat so horribly," Rajiv Dogra, India's former ambassador to Italy said.
Indian diplomat strip searched, Meira Kumar refuses to meet US MPs : North, News - India Today
