India orders US diplomat to leave country

WASHINGTON: The United States and India expelled a diplomat each from the other country, in what was euphemistically and politely termed as ''withdrawal,'' as the month-long fiasco over the so-called Khobragade affair drew to a close on Friday.

New Delhi agreed on Thursday to a US request to withdraw the controversial Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade from New York, after the Washington granted her full diplomatic immunity ahead of a criminal indictment by US attorney Preet Bharara in a visa fraud case. The diplomat left New York late on Thursday under what is primarily a political deal.

In retaliation, New Delhi, which believed Khobragade was wrongly indicted, asked on Friday for a US diplomat of equal rank to Khobragade to be withdrawn from the US embassy in New Delhi.

The tit for tat expulsions (which is what it is despite the polite euphemisms) is only the second instance of a US diplomat being expelled, the first instance being expulsion of George Griffin, then political counsellor, 33 years ago. That was in retaliation against similar action being taken by the US against Prabhakar Menon, an Indian diplomat.

Indian Diplomat Booted From U.S.   Devyani Khobragade, the Indian deputy consul whose arrest and strip-search for visa fraud set off a diplomatic row between the U.S. and India flew home Friday after being ordered to leave for refusing to waive her diplomatic immunity. In a huff, Indian authorities called her arrest and strip-search “barbaric” and proceeded to retailiate by removing security barriers from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi along with other actions. A grand jury found that Khobragade had negotiated paying her maid just $3.33 an hour, and in reality only paid her less than $2 an hour, and seized her passport.