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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian politicians snub US delegation over diplomat arrest |
| 2013-12-18 |
| [Pak Daily Times] India launched a series of reprisals on Tuesday against US officials, foreign ministry sources said, as outrage grows over a diplomat's arrest in New York, which New Delhi has branded "humiliating". In an escalating row over the arrest, the government ordered a range of measures including the return of identity cards for US consular officials that speed up travel into and through India, the sources said. "We have ordered the withdrawal of all ID cards that are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs to the officials at the US consulates across India," a senior ministry source told AFP on condition of anonymity. The government will also stop all import clearances for the US embassy including liquor, the sources said, while Indian security forces removed barricades from outside the US embassy in New Delhi. Tow-trucks and mechanical diggers were seen taking away the heavy barriers which control traffic from the streets around the embassy. The moves come after deputy consul general Devyani Khobragade was tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! last week while dropping her children at school, for allegedly underpaying her domestic helper who is also an Indian national and for lying on the helper's visa application form. Anger over the incident has been mounting in the Indian press with front-page reports Tuesday claiming Khobragade had been handcuffed and "strip-searched and confined with drug addicts" after her arrest. Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said Tuesday the government had "put in motion" measures to address the arrest, calling Khobragade's seizure "completely unacceptable". |
| Posted by:Fred |