India gets tough with US

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON

INDIA ordered the United States yesterday to close down an embassy club for expatriate Americans in New Delhi, escalating a diplomatic row between the two nations that has brought faultlines in their ties out in the open.

Furious at the arrest, handcuffing and strip search of its deputy consul in New York last month, India initially reacted by curtailing privileges offered to US diplomats. The officer, Devyani Khobragade, was accused by prosecutors of underpaying her nanny and lying on a visa application,

Still festering nearly a month on, the row has started to affect the wider relationship between the world’s two largest democracies, with one high-level visit by a senior US official already postponed and a visit scheduled for next week by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz looking doubtful.

Both sides have said the relationship is important and will not be allowed to deteriorate — Washington needs New Delhi on its side as US troops pull out of Afghanistan and it engages with China. Millions of Indians have made the United States their home and bilateral trade is worth about US$100 billion a year.

But the row over Khobragade, which should not have been more than an easily resolved irritant, is just not going away and has plunged the two countries into a crisis described by Indian media as the worst since New Delhi tested a nuclear device in 1998.

“I’m a little worried it may spin out of control,” said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States who has also served as India’s top diplomat and is now retired.

India stepped up the pressure on Wednesday ahead of a Jan 13 court appearance where Khobragade could be indicted, ordering the US embassy in Delhi to stop receiving non-diplomats at an embassy club popular with expatriate Americans for its swimming pool, restaurant and bar.

Americans working in the Indian capital have been frequenting the club for decades.

The embassy said it had no comment to make on the move.

Despite an overall improvement in ties since the end of the Cold War, the dispute has brought into the open the lingering wariness between the two countries. Over the past year, there has been increasing friction over trade, intellectual property rights and visas for Indian IT workers.

There is also a legacy of mistrust between the both sides, with some Indian officials whose professional life began when India was a close partner of the Soviet Union still not convinced Washington is a reliable ally.

Despite close security and economic cooperation now, many officials recall US support of Pakistan, India’s old enemy, and some quietly believe the United States sees a strong India as a threat. “For 50 years we were led to believe that the United States was an adversary. For the last 10 years we have been experimenting with a strategic partnership. It is not a done deal.” said Mansingh.

Among some US diplomats there is a perception that while India insists on respect and friendship from Washington, it fails to deliver either in support on issues such as Iran or Afghanistan, or by giving enough commercial access to US businesses.

To defuse the spat, India wants the US State Department to approve Khobragade’s transfer to its UN mission in New York, a move it believes would give her immunity from prosecution. If that doesn’t happen before the US government commences a preliminary hearing or files an indictment, India could unleash more retaliation measures, a government source with knowledge of the affair told Reuters.

Reuters