Adv Sanjeev Sirohi
It is unfortunate in the extreme that an Indian senior diplomat posted in the US has been treated so barbarically by a country which claims to be the most civilised country in the world and that too no false grounds which will certainly not be able to withstand legal scrutiny in any impartial court of law in the first place. For a moment, even if we assume that she was guilty of visa fraud, that does not in any way justify the degrading brazen manner in which she was arrested, handcuffed , subjected to repeated strip searching and put behind bars with those hardened criminals who are regular drug addicts and drug dealers. This was something completely unexpected from a country like the US which always projects itself as the country which places human rights on the highest pedestal.
Why does it happen only with India? It is because we have built our reputation as a very soft state. Our politicians have through their conduct demonstrated that they can never in their life hold talks or dialogues with rapists or murderers or other ordinary criminals but only with Pakistani invaders like Musharraf or terrorists who get training in Pakistan to attack our Parliament, High Courts, the Red Fort and massacre our citizens in the most ruthless manner and the exclusive privilege of “ceasefire” is also for them only or for rogue nations like Pakistan who regularly in last 40 years have been sending terrorists to India to kill innocents!
The ruthless manner in which Captain Saurav Kalia and 5 soldiers of Indian army were tortured for 22 days after capturing them alive and killed after brutally maiming all their vital organs including private parts was something never heard of. But what was to follow was most horrifying! Indian Government decided never to rake-up this so sensitive issue in any forum inspite of promising to do the same to the parents of Captain Kalia and who is still fighting a lonely legal battle to get justice for his son and other soldiers justice but Indian Government has said that they have nothing doing with it .
This shameful incident too will be forgotten soon and everything will get to regular business with the US as usual. She will soon be approached by political parties to contest under their banner and forget everything as a “bad dream”. It is a bitter truth that when it comes to US citizens, they must be given VVIP treatment even if they murder someone as happened in Pakistan and even murderers, spies and rapists are shielded by invoking the provisions of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations but conveniently throws it in dustbin when it comes to Indian citizens! Then suddenly all rules, regulations and norms are invoked!
Why can’t India do the same to the US diplomats so that next time no one takes us for granted? It is because as Gen Musharraf says “India knows only how to honour those who kill their soldiers mercilessly as he killed by entering 12 to 13 miles inside Indian territory during Kargil War. Yet India has no option but to beg me to come to India and hold talks.” We gave Pakistan the status of “Most Preferred Nation” in 1989 but they are yet to confer it on us! With such leaders at helm, do we really need external enemies to destroy us?
India has upped the ante very late and that too in a way that does not mean much. Earlier also when snooping was done on consular officials, India did nothing. Why does India quietly succumb to the US pressure on playing havoc with safety of millions of Indians, safety by shaping the nuclear liability bill in the manner Americans want? What happened during Bhopal gas tragedy case in 1984 is known all too well! Unless India learn to develop a zero tolerance for any kind of humiliation to Indian citizens and nuke all relations with countries like Pakistan till they stop fomenting terrorism in India.
It is a matter of concern that an Indian lady diplomat was arrested and paraded in the United States’ Government at the highest level. Arrest of diplomat is clear violation of the immunity that is granted to a diplomat, Government of India should convey its concern over this incident to the United States’ Government at the highest level. Arrest of diplomat is clear of violation of Article 31 of Vienna Convention which very clearly says that there is an immunity granted to a diplomat. The Leader of Opposition Shri Arun Jaitley raised the issue of Public Humiliation of Ms Devyani Khobragade in New York.
