New Delhi: India's retaliatory action against the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade by American authorities will start having effect from today, the deadline set for surrendering airport passes by all US consular diplomats and their families.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said US Consular diplomats and their families have been asked to surrender airports passes by today.
He said the US has been told to provide a list of all Indian nationals working with its Consulates, including domestic servants, by December 23. The government has also sought copies of their contracts, bank accounts, salaries and PAN numbers.
"We have written to all US Consulates in the country asking that their Consular identity cards may be withdrawn for review no later than December 23," Khurshid said.
In a strong retaliation, the government had announced a slew of reprisal steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US Embassy protesting the arrest and strip searching of Khobragade.
39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer posted as Deputy Consul General in New York, was taken into custody last week on visa fraud charges as she was dropping her daughter to school before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.
Khobragade was put through both strip and cavity searches, procedures normally used for criminals, evoking a sharp reaction from India.
Khurshid said requests by US missions for privileges like issuance of I-cards and certificates for duty-free import of liquor may be withdrawn.
"I don't think this has been ever done in the country," he said.
Khobragade was yesterday transferred to India's Permanent Mission to UN to give her fuller diplomatic immunity.
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