India's New Envoy To U.S. Gears Up To Resolve Diplomatic Row

Washington: India's new ambassador to the U.S., S Jaishankar, has begun in right earnest the task of finding a way to resolve the India-U.S. diplomatic row sparked by the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat.

Shortly after presenting a copy of his credentials to the U.S.  State Department, the envoy met two top department officials, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, and Under Secretary for Management, Patrick F. Kennedy.

While Jaishankar, who served as the Indian ambassador in China for the last four years, would formally present his credentials to President Barack Obama, away on a family holiday in Hawaii, only in the New Year, he can now start interacting with U.S.  officials.

Diplomats in New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in talks to defuse the crisis since the Dec 12 arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her nanny. She has pleaded not guilty.

The new ambassador, who played a key role in negotiating the landmark India- U.S.  civil nuclear deal and other initiatives, is a familiar face to the Washington bureaucracy dealing with South Asia.

Son of India's pre-eminent strategic thinker, the late K Subrahmanyam, he is expected to get the process moving with meetings with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal and other U.S.  officials in the coming days.

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