‘India to hold talks with US over diplomat’

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says he plans to hold talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in order to defuse tension over the arrest and strip searching of an Indian diplomat in New York City.

Khurshid said he planned on talking with Kerry on Thursday.

“In terms of our relationship with the United States, I do feel this must be resolved,” the Indian minister said.

Deputy consul general at India’s consulate in New York, Devyani Khobragade, 39, was handcuffed and strip searched on December 12 by police on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper.

On December 18, Kerry voiced regret over the treatment the Indian diplomat received last week, during a meeting with Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon.

The incident has caused great anger in India.

In response, Indian authorities removed security barriers at the US Embassy in New Delhi.

Lawmakers in India have called on the government to take the humiliating act seriously.

The Indian Foreign Ministry ordered the revocation of all identification cards issued by the ministry to officials at US consulates across the country.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also slammed the treatment as “deplorable.”

The announcement of talks comes after Indian politicians refused to meet with a US congressional delegation over the incident.