Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Outgoing US envoy Timothy J. Roemer Thursday described pat downs at airports and criminal charges against Indian diplomats in America as “occasional hiccups” in otherwise “positive stories” in the bilateral relationship.

Roemer, who laid down his ambassadorial office Thursday after a two-year stint, said India and the US were working out ways to improve the situation during visits by important people to both countries, and the matter was discussed during bilateral talks between US Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano and Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

“I really think that these are important issues and when Secretary Napolitano was here, she said that we were working to improve how when you have a minister or a very important people visit the US, we strongly encourage there is a smooth process that takes place without incident,” said Roemer in his farewell remarks at the India Gate, the most popular landmark of the capital.

“We are coordinating more and more on the travel itineraries so that those experiences do not take place in the future,” he said.

The bilateral ties witnessed some bitter moments this month when India’s Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal was accused of “slavery” by his Indian domestic help, and the daughter of another diplomat, Krittika Biswas, sued the New York city for her wrongful arrest.

India and the US differed over whether Biswas’ daughter enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

In two other incidents, India’s Ambassador to US Meera Shankar and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Hardeep Puri were subjected to “pat down” security checks at American airports in December last year. New Delhi took up these issues at the highest level in the US.

Noting that “every now and then” such incidents did take place in both India and the US, Roemer said the big picture was that the two countries’ relations have taken strides in the last decade and that there were “positives that transpired” during that period.

He pointed out that the India and the US were working together in “unprecedented ways” in intelligence sharing and counter terrorism, apart from putting in regional peace efforts across the globe.

Roemer said the US and India shared “a common interest in a stable and peaceful Afghanistan” and that the two countries saw “opportunities to combine their great global economies and benefit jobs in both places” in the future.

“Those are really the positive stories going forward that define the relationship. I really hope the media will concentrate on those good news stories as well as the occasional hiccups or the challenge that takes place in the relationship,” he added.