As top officials of the Obama administration begin trooping back from their Christmas holidays, the unexpectedly strong Indian retaliation in the Devyani Khobragade case is widely expected to trigger a comprehensive review of the developments in a bid to retrieve the situation after the worst diplomatic spat between the two countries in recent memory.
Officials of the White House, State Department and the Department of Justice are understood to be preparing for a review this week, even as New Delhi is intensifying its pressure on the US establishment in India by seeking details about staff in American schools for examining possible tax violations.
New Delhi has not taken kindly to the State Department’s assertions that the alleged visa fraud case against Khobragade would not be dropped, regardless of her transfer from the Indian consulate in New York to the country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
This was before the Indian Government came up with the revelation that Khobragade did enjoy full diplomatic immunity at the time of her arrest by the US authorities in New York on December 12, pointing out that she had been designated as an adviser to India’s UN mission right from August 26, 2013, with its validity till December 31, 2013.
“We are currently looking into the matter,” State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf had said on Thursday in respect of this assertion about Khobragade’s diplomatic immunity, which could make the institution of the US criminal case untenable.
Khobragade kept insisting that she had immunity at the time of her arrest, but the US authorities paid no heed to her pleas. There has been no explanation thus far from the Office of US Attorney Preet Bharara either on the arrest in spite of the immunity claim or on defence lawyer Daniel Arshack’s assertion that the US investigators goofed up on the salary issue, by mistaking the diplomat’s income for wages required to be paid to her maid, Sangeeta Richards.
India’s new Ambassador S Jaishankar has his task cut out clearly in making the US establishment see reason and resolve diplomatic crisis without further delay. He has already held one round of meeting with two top State Department officials - Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Under Secretary for Manag-ement Patrick F Kennedy. But there has been no clear signals yet on whether US was willing to backtrack on the case against Devyani and, if so, how soon.