WASHINGTON: The US State Department has said that its new assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, Neha Desai Biswal, has no plans to visit India now but looks forward to visiting it soon.
The clarification followed Indian media reports that Mrs Biswal, a US diplomat of Indian origin, has postponed her first official visit to India over the Devyani Khobragade dispute.
Mrs Biswal was scheduled to visit New Delhi on Jan. 6, the reports claimed.
“It’s my understanding there was nothing locked in stone on the calendar. I know there were some rumours out there,” said US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf when asked to comment on the reports.
“The assistant secretary certainly looks forward to visiting India as soon as possible. When it works in her schedule, she’s very much looking forward to travelling there to the region and talking to folks on the ground,” Ms Harf added.
The Indian media reported on Thursday that that the US state department has postponed the visit and it was in retaliation to senior Indian politicians refusing to meet US lawmakers.Recently, Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, and
Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon refused to meet a US congressional delegation to protest Ms Khobragade’s strip and cavity search by US Marshals in New York last month.
Assistant Secretary Biswal has been handling all communications between Washington and New Delhi on the Khobragade issue.
India is demanding that the US tender an apology for insulting its deputy consul general in New York and drop all charges against her. Ms Khobragadeis accused of underpaying her maid and of providing false information to obtain a US visa for the maid.
The United States has refused to withdraw the charges.
Meanwhile, the State Department has warned that a social media video, which claims to show the Indian diplomat being strip-searched, was completely false. The video has received tens of thousands of hits on various social media sites.
“This video, which we are aware of, is absolutely not footage of Ms Khobragade,” Ms Harf said. “We would call it a dangerous and provocative fabrication.”
The US official noted that some Indian news sites also had shown this video without confirming its authenticity.
“We find it deeply troubling, irresponsible, and reckless, and condemn again this dangerous fabrication,” Ms Harf said. “I want to make very clear this is not video of her.”
The State Department official also clarified that the search methods depicted in the video were not US Marshals’ policy.
