Amidst outrage expressed by members in Parliament, India on Wednesday asserted that it will intervene “effectively and specifically” to ensure the return and restoration of dignity of its Deputy Consul General in New York who has been arrested on charges of visa rules violation.
Responding to concerns expressed by members across party lines in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid condemned the U.S. action and said he will not return to the House if he fails in his responsibility to bring back the arrested diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
Spelling out the series of steps initiated to scale down the privileges granted to U.S. diplomats in India, he said there was a “conspiracy” in which Ms. Khobragade was “virtually trapped”.
He said the diplomat is “innocent” and the U.S. action was unwarranted. “It is not illegality that she is accused of, but the illegality she refused to oblige,” he said.
Maintaining that the government was not over-reacting by taking a slew of measures against the U.S., Mr. Khurshid said the treatment meted out to Ms. Khobragade had “not happened out of blue” and there is a “history” behind it.
He asserted that the government is determined and “will intervene effectively and specifically to ensure that dignity of the diplomat is preserved.” Mr. Khurshid made suo motu statements in both the Houses after members expressed outrage with demands that a resolution be passed to condemn the U.S. action.
“It is my responsibility. We will bring back the diplomat (arrested in New York) and restore her dignity. If I fail to do it, I will not return to this House,” he said in Rajya Sabha.
In the Lok Sabha, he said, “First and foremost, our effort is to bring her out of this situation and then we will talk to the US government.”
via Outrage in Parliament, govt. vows strong action – The Hindu.
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