Khobragade flap: US disavows social media postings by expelled diplomat and wife

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 15 Januari 2014 | 03.46

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Monday distanced itself from offensive social media postings by an American security official and his wife, both of whom are believed to have left New Delhi as part of the tit-for-tat expulsions following the monumental diplomatic fiasco between US and India centering on a dispute between an Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and her housekeeper Sangeeta Richard.

"Those comments absolutely do not reflect US government policy, nor were they made on any official US government social media account," state department spokeswoman Marie Harf said about the now widely reported social media banter by the couple and their associates, in which they mocked Indian cultural and religious sensitivities and broadly expressed their unease and discomfort about serving in India. "I would underscore that these do not in any way represent the US government position," Harf added.

Citing "privacy considerations", the spokesperson did not name the officials, but they were identified in New Delhi as Wayne May, the head of the US embassy's security deployment in India, and his wife Alicia Muller May, who is the embassy's community liaison officer.

They are said to have helped "evacuate" Sangeeta Richard's husband and children from New Delhi because they believed Devyani Khobragade was legally strong-arming the family, who worked for a succession of US embassy officials, in an effort to force the housekeeper to withdraw her complaints against the diplomat.

The Indian government has taken serious exception to their interpretation, and in effect, contempt of court, considering there was an on-going legal case in India on the matter.

An extensive review of the case in India has led New Delhi to conclude the US intervention was based on mala fide reading of the dispute between the diplomat and the housekeeper to help a family that had been loyal to US embassy officials and who "gamed" the system to emigrate to the US The Mays offensive social media postings, including ridiculing domestic staff and local customs, also appear to belie the professed concern for domestic workers in India.

While differences over the incident continued to simmer in the background, the two sides began putting relations back on track with active bilateral engagements after what Harf said has been a "a challenging time in the US-India relationship."

"We will now take significant steps with the Indian government to improve our relationship and return it to a more constructive place. I think that we have talked at length about the situation for weeks now, and what we're focused on is the situation coming to an end and moving forward," Harf said, citing Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller's meeting with the Indian ambassador S.Jaishankar on Monday morning.

Separately, the two sides have also been having discussions on security and intelligence matters. "Whether it's arms control, nonproliferation, whether it's Afghanistan, whether it's energy, economic issues...We just want to get back to business and we want to put this behind us, and we want both sides to work together to move the relationship forward," Harf said.


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