This Is The Best This Progeny Of A Eunuch Called Gandhi Could Do

[Mehtab Singh]

For U.S. citizens living in India’s capital, it will soon get harder to take a swim and become costly to run red lights.

India is targeting American embassy staff and expatriates in New Delhi as it boosts pressure on the U.S. to drop visa fraud charges against a diplomat. A social club with a swimming pool and bowling alley will be shut for non-diplomats from Jan. 16, while embassy cars will now face traffic fines, according to an Indian government official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

“This has become rather silly and unfortunate,” said Salman Haider, India’s former top bureaucrat in the foreign ministry who had also served as ambassador to China. “It’s important that the two sides talk this issue out and find a way forward. I have seen no evidence that the U.S. or India has taken any steps in that direction.”

The move signals continued tension between the world’s most-populous democracies a month after India first expressed outrage that U.S. officials charged a diplomat with visa fraud for underpaying her Indian babysitter. Last month, it removed security barriers around the U.S. embassy in New Delhi and scrapped diplomatic import privileges for food and alcohol, moves cheered by lawmakers before elections due by May.

“There is no merit in extending courtesies beyond what is accorded to our diplomats,” Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi yesterday. “Since they are saying they will abide by their law, so we will also apply our laws. We are withdrawing facilities that were extended over and above what was mutually agreed between us.”

Cheeseburgers, Beer

Located next to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi’s diplomatic district, the American Community Support Association is popular with families and used for embassy functions, including last year’s July 4 Independence Day celebrations. It has a baseball field, a small gym, a beauty parlor, and restaurants and bars serving cheeseburgers and American beer.

The club, which had offered family memberships for $2,425 a year, will soon only be available for accredited diplomats because they are exempt from paying duties on services, according to the Indian government official. The club may now struggle to stay open because it will serve a small number of diplomats, the official said.

After years of exemptions, U.S. embassy cars will also face penalties for unauthorized parking, jumping red lights and dangerous driving, the official said. Fines for such violations range from 90 rupees ($1.45) to 990 rupees for first-time offenders, according to the Delhi Transport Department.

Alcohol Privileges

The moves build on measures announced earlier to cancel diplomatic import privileges for food and alcohol. Indian authorities also sought information on how much Indian staff earn as employees of the U.S. government, and if teachers at the American school paid taxes.

Further action may be taken against the embassy in coming weeks, the Indian official said, declining to say what measures are being considered. U.S. Embassy spokesman Peter Vrooman did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who won the largest insider trading case in American history last year, said Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade submitted a false visa application for an employee who was to work as her housekeeper and babysitter, and paid her “far below” minimum wage. He has defended a strip-search of Khobragade, saying it was standard practice.

Regional Interests

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought to mend ties with India over the incident, expressing his regret in a Dec. 18 call to Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. He stopped short of an apology.

At stake is the growing relationship between India and the U.S., which took time to thaw in the 1990s when India was viewed as a Soviet ally. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was President Barack Obama’s first official diplomatic guest, last week described a deal with the U.S. that allowed it to import nuclear technology as his greatest achievement during a decade in power.

The two countries depend on each other to maintain security in South Asia, where militants control swaths of neighboring Pakistan and the Taliban threatens to take power in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdraws combat forces, said Michael Kugelman, senior program associate with the Wilson Center in Washington. Although Khobragade’s case is unlikely to hamper India-U.S. relations, India has been “scarred” by what they perceive to be a violation of diplomatic rights, he said.

Tensions

“The relationship has improved, but there’s still a lot of tension between the two countries in terms of trust, and this spat has really angered the Indians,” he said in a phone interview. “This case will not torpedo the relationship.”

Khurshid said last month he told the U.S. to abandon the case against Khobragade. The diplomat this week asked a judge to postpone a Jan. 13 deadline for her indictment to Feb. 12.

Since her arrest, Khobragade has been transferred to a position at India’s United Nations mission in New York from her consular role to give her full diplomatic immunity. The U.S. State Department has said that new posting wouldn’t nullify any previously existing criminal charges.

In a contract prosecutors said Khobragade submitted as part of the visa application, the diplomat said she paid the babysitter $9.75 an hour -- above minimum wage as required by law, State Department Special Agent Mark Smith said in the criminal complaint. In a second contract, the diplomat agreed to pay the babysitter 30,000 rupees a month, or approximately $573, the U.S. said, which came out to about $3.31 per hour.

Khobragade denies wrongdoing, and her lawyer said last month she was arrested in error.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/bowling-to-beer-curbed-for-u-s-expats-amid-india-diplomat-row.html

[JasSinghKhalsa]

Mehtab Singh Jee, len deyo panga enhaan nun, enhaan nein samjhaya hoya hai, ethe vi be-gunaahn Sikhan de encounter ki tarah, America nun vi dabba deyange, enhaan nun pata nahin US ki cheej hai, I am watching this incident very closely and silently, didn't posted it, Je USA nein USSR nahin chadeya, pher baaki tusin khud samajhdar ho, len deyo panga ...

[JasSinghKhalsa]

[Hindustani]

You're right all these protesters should have gone on a fast or something. Seriously, the GOI needs to cancel the tens of billions of dollars in defence deals with the United States along with the civilian nuclear deal and award them to other countries like France or Russia.

This is the same united states who's contractor (CIA Agent) Raymond Davis killed two pakistanis in lahore at a traffic stop. This is the same united states that got raymond davis outta pakistan by claiming he was a diplomat. double standards.

But thats ok we expect more arrests of terrorists to make up for this incident...

[DiscoverSikhism]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

This 'incident' exposes India's mentality.

India's sabre rattling is conveying a special hidden message. Here's a translation...

'We (India) have a lot of corrupt and unethical officials and politicians, which we accept is perfectly normal. We welcome dishonest and immoral behaviour and so do our citizens, we will not hesitate to show our resolve in protecting our depraved actions so in future we do not expect the US and the rest of the world to interfere with our shameless way of life...'.

The US should stand firm and deal with the other politicians when they visit next, they can start with those involved in the Sikh genocide of the 1980's and 1990's. The Gandhi/ Nehru dynasty and other minions.

Of all the moral causes Indian officials could have raised with the US, they've raised the cause of a corrupt and dishonest official...

Truly amazing. I've seen Gursikh children behave better.

[JasSinghKhalsa]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

This 'incident' exposes India's mentality.

India's sabre rattling is conveying a special hidden message. Here's a translation...

'We (India) have a lot of corrupt and unethical officials and politicians, which we accept is perfectly normal. We welcome dishonest and immoral behaviour and so do our citizens, we will not hesitate to show our resolve in protecting our depraved actions so in future we do not expect the US and the rest of the world to interfere with our shameless way of life...'.

The US should stand firm and deal with the other politicians when they visit next, they can start with those involved in the Sikh genocide of the 1980's and 1990's. The Gandhi/ Nehru dynasty and other minions.

Of all the moral causes Indian officials could have raised with the US, they've raised the cause of a corrupt and dishonest official...

Truly amazing. I've seen Gursikh children behave better.

You know how a child fights - "You took my lollypop, KUTTI-KUTTI-KUTTI", Give my lollypop back for "ABBA-ABBA-ABBA". They are saying KUTTI at the moment, the arrogance is "We have a huge consumer base, we are not gonna buy your products"

[JasSinghKhalsa]

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/devyani-khobragade-case-us-judge-refuses-to-extend-january-13-indictment-deadline-468807?pfrom=home-otherstories

[JasSinghKhalsa]

BREAKING NEWS

US ATTORNEY : INDIA'S CORRUPT IFS OFFICER - Devyani Khobragade INDICTED IN USA ON VISA FRAUD CHARGES.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/09/politics/us-india-diplomacy/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Officials: India diplomat indicted in visa fraud case, to leave United States

By CNN Staff

January 9, 2014 -- Updated 2225 GMT (0625 HKT)

(CNN) -- India's deputy consul general, whose arrest and strip-search in New York spawned a diplomatic row, was expected to depart the United States Thursday, two senior U.S. officials said, the same day prosecutors announced she was indicted for alleged visa fraud.

Tensions have escalated between India and the United States over the December arrest and treatment of Devyani Khobragade, with New Delhi demanding Washington apologize and drop charges against her accusing her of lying on a visa application for her former housekeeper.

Khobragade was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on one count of visa fraud and one count of making false statements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Earlier in the day in a letter to a federal judge, U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara said the diplomat would not be arraigned on the charges because she had left the country. Later, the U.S. Attorney's Office withdrew the claim, saying it had been informed by the State Department that she "was to have left the United States this afternoon."

Khobragade's attorney told CNN late Thursday afternoon that she was still in the United States, but declined to say whether she planned to leave later.

"Despite Preet Bharara's reports to the contrary, Devyani Khobragade has not left the country. She is at home with her children," her attorney told CNN. "This is her status as of now."

[Hindustani]

Mr. Preet Bharara is the most hated man in India right now. LOL!

But he has a bright future. You are probably looking at the future Mayor of New York. From Ferozpure Punjab to the District Attorneys Office. This guy is as tough as nails and has nailed top fugitives.

Time Magazines 100 most infleuntial Americans.

[JasSinghKhalsa]

Mr. Preet Bharara is the most hated man in India right now. LOL!

Yeah, we know that. In India, the most loved people are the ones who shield corrupt politicians, murderers, dacoits, etc. Mr. Bharara got justice for a poor maid Sangeeta Richards, who was also an Indian, but the Manuwadi Brahiminst mindset who is so tuned to exploiting the weak and labour class, is so tuned to get away in India with it's influence of power and money, will hate this person, their media propaganda/style of presenting a news will project this person as a RAKSHAS, but who cares, he got justice for a poor weak Indian woman, and we are happy with that.

Thanks USA, We are happy with your justice system.

USA Justice system - you call a corrupt Indian Diplomat as corrupt, charge them and tell them to leave their country, what can be more insulting than this? You don't succumb to supid behaviour of Indian Foreign Office, removing barricades outside US Embassy, traffic rules changed etc. etc. etc., the most childish behaviour from the so called largest democracy of the world, ahhhhh self-proclaimed Democracy OR "Hypocricy"?

I would be very happy if AAP comes to power, cleans this system, so we can see a clean India ruled by Aam Aadmi and not corrupt officers and politicians. This is not going to happen if NaMo / BJP / RSS comes to power - they are even worse in exploiting the weaker sections of society. AAP - come up and contest all Lok Sabha seats, and thrash out NaMo dreams of coming to power. It will help building a strong India, cleaning the system of corrupt people. Only people who don't want AAP to come to power have self-vested corrupt motives, and don't want Bharata as whole to excel . Hope, we can see a true Democracy soon.