India has expressed its refusal to permit non-diplomats for visiting a club at the US embassy in Delhi. The event adds another blow to the diplomatic relations, between the world’s two largest democracies, that have been deteriorating since the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.
The American Community Support Association club has been used by hundreds of expatriates in Delhi for decades but now government officials have been quoted to demand that the embassy must cease all commercial activities benefiting non-diplomatic staff on its premises by January 16, according to a foreign news agency.
India is furious at the December 12 arrest and strip search of its deputy consul in New York, Devyani Khobragade who was accused of visa fraud and underpaying her nanny.
The arrest led to a diplomatic row between the two states and now it has started to affect the wider relationship between USA and India, with one high-level visit already postponed and a visit scheduled for next week by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz now looking doubtful.
India has already taken a number of retaliatory measures and is now stepping up the pressure on Washington ahead of a court appearance by the diplomat due on January 13.
