NEW DELHI, Sept 22: A top Dutch diplomat in New Delhi has come under fire from the Indian foreign ministry after he reportedly labelled the capital as ‘miserable’ and a ‘garbage dump’, a newspaper said on Friday.
Arnold Parzer, agriculture counsellor at the Royal Netherlands Embassy, also reportedly told the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad that New Delhi residents were a ‘darn nuisance”, the Hindustan Times reported.
“Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong; everyone interferes with everyone else; the people are a darn nuisance; the climate is hell; the city is a garbage dump,” Parzer reportedly told the daily.
“New Delhi is the most miserable place I have ever lived in,” the diplomat was quoted as saying.
The Hindustan Times said India’s foreign ministry had summoned Dutch ambassador Eric Neihe, who in turn had “taken the officer to task”.
The Dutch embassy declined to confirm if New Delhi had expressed its displeasure over the incident.—AFP
haha, this is funny. you dont see diplomats bad mouthing islamabad and calling it a dump, maybe india should spend some money on cleaning up its capital
Of course, it is very undiplomatic. Shouldn't he be declared persona non grata? Or is Indian foreign office overreacting?
Irrespective of whether he was correct in his assessment of Delhi or not, this was undiplomatic. Its bad protocol for a foreign diplomat to insult the host country and the Indian Foreign office did the correct thing by reacting to his statement.
No US cannot do Jack to most countries but US is a tiger for some weak countries. But removing the dhoti of one of the biggest country in the world is against all norms and can only be done to a country that is living in stone ages so what Shri ambassador said abot Delhi should be nothing out of the ordinary.
^ You don't seem to comprehend the gravity of the situation, In comparision what Shri Ambassador said is nothing and irrelevant. But in order to grasp the difference you first need to realize how serious was removal of diplomatic dhoti compared to a shot on Delhi.
^ This case took place in India, and India has the right to declare him 'persona non grata' if it chooses to. And thats one of the points that the thread originator had raised and which you have missed.
The unrelated example that you are giving took place in the US, and other than cribbing & whining about it, we could not have done anything.
I am sure you are well aware that even presidents dont have the guts to say anything to the US, even when they are threatened to be "sent back to stone age" by Uncle Sam.:)
^ You are missing the whole point, when a top minister who arrives with ** full protocol ** and Indian ambassador is there to recieve him and his dhoti was removed not once but twice is a huge incident compared to what Shri Ambasador said... What Shri ambassador said is 100 percent true what Shri Amreeka did was 100 percent wrong.
Dude, diplomatic protocol demands that you dont insult the host country, and the ambassador crossed the line. Doesn't matter if what he said was true or not.
Protocol is a rule how an activity should be performed when high level diplomats arrive. High level diplomats are not strip searched suspected of carrying bombs or drugs...
It was a direct insult thats why India did not even make a pigsqueak the admission only came after the revelation in Strobe Talbot’s book.
It was a direct insult thats why India did not even make a pigsqueak the admission only came after the revelation in Strobe Talbot’s book.
Already responded earlier in post #10 - US can do a lot of things and get away with it. We are just lucky that US does not want to "send us back to the stone age" :)
What US can get away with is beside the point, lot of countries can get away with lot of things...
The point is comparasion of two incidents, the one at Dulles airport was far more serious compared to Shri Ambasaddors remarks about stone age capital. :)