India, US working to end ‘hiccups’ over Khobragade

The US on Friday accepted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the public arrest and alleged humiliation of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has caused hiccups in bilateral ties, but said it is now focused on getting the relationship back on a strong footing.

"When you hear the secretary (of state) express regret about something, that means that everything hasn't gone as it should," State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at her daily news conference in Washington on Friday.

Prime Minister Singh had remarked earlier in the day that the arrest of Khobragade in the US has resulted in hiccups in the bilateral ties.

Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was arrested in that city in December on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid. She was released on a $250,000 bond.

The 39-year-old Khobragade alleged that was strip searched and held with criminals. India retaliated by downgrading the privileges of lower categories of US diplomats.

The Harf also welcomed India's decision to deploy an additional 150 police personnel outside its embassy in New Delhi, weeks after the government ordered the removal of barricades outside the embassy – among the special privileges that US diplomats are granted, which are not reciprocated by the US.

"We welcome statements from the ministry of external affairs that India is fully committed to ensuring the safety and security of all diplomats in Delhi and elsewhere," Harf said.

The United States has been describing this as an isolated incident and has been saying that it wants to move forward.

"What we're focused on now is getting the relationship back on really strong footing," Harf told reporters. The US continues to review the paperwork that the State Department received from the UN on the transfer of Khobragade to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, which would give her the necessary diplomatic immunity, she added.

"There's a judicial process, a legal process under way, and I don't have any estimates for how long that will all take to play out. There's also our diplomatic discussions as well. Just nothing new to announce or guess about here today," Harf said.

She also said that a video currently in circulation on the social media, which claims to show the CCTV footage of Khobragade's strip-search after her arrest is a hoax, a "dangerous and provocative fabrication".