‘There is no standoff between India and the US’: Indian foreign minister

Eurasia News

NEW DELHI: Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said on Saturday that there was no standoff between Indian and the United States.

The statement came a day after Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade returned to New Delhi after being indicted in New York on charges of visa fraud and making false statements but allowed to leave because of diplomatic immunity, while India asked the US to withdraw a diplomat from its embassy in New Delhi as reciprocal action.

There is no standoff between India and the US,” Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi.

If there are any issues” the countries will “sort them out mutually,” he added.

Earlier, the United States said that its relationship with India was at present facing a challenging time and confirmed that a US official would leave its embassy in New Delhi at India’s request.

In a statement in Washington, US State Department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said the United States was deeply regretted over India’s expulsion of a US diplomat amid an ongoing diplomatic row.

The 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, who was deputy consul-general in New York‚ was arrested on December 12 and charged with one count of visa fraud and another of making false statements about how much she paid her housekeeper.

Her arrest and strip-search spurred outrage in India as New Delhi took a series of retaliatory measures against the United States including removing security barriers outside the US embassy in the capital.