Washington, Delhi start talks on diplomatic immunity

India and the United States are holding preliminary discussions to resolve their differing interpretations of diplomatic immunity as they look to mend ties damaged by the row over American treatment of an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York, India’s ambassador said Friday. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s new envoy in Washington, said his priority is to raise the “morale” of a relationship that remains fundamentally good despite the spat over Devyani Khobragade, who was expelled from the US this month after she was indicted on accusations of exploiting her housekeeper. “As you would say in the markets, the fundamentals are good, it’s the sentiment that needs improving,” Jaishankar has said. The US and India, the world’s largest democracies, have forged closer economic and defense ties in the past decade, but relations took a tumble because of Indian outrage over the treatment of Khobragade, who was the nation’s deputy consul general in New York. She was strip-searched after her December 13 arrest, which US Marshals say is common practice for a suspect taken into custody, but was viewed in India as unnecessarily humiliating. India unleashed a steady stream of retaliatory measures against US diplomats, including restrictions at the American Center in New Delhi and revoking new ID cards for some diplomats, according to AP.