India set in motion an array of retaliatory steps against U.S. diplomats in the absence of contriteness over maltreatment of an Indian diplomat in New York last week.

The government asked all U.S. consular officers to turn in their identity cards and the entire American diplomatic corps their airport passes while senior Congress leaders snubbed a visiting U.S. Congressional delegation for the second straight day by refusing to meet them.

The government sought to turn the screws further by ordering Delhi Police to remove concrete barricades on public land and roads around the U.S. Embassy, sought salary details and bank accounts of all Indian staff employed at the missions and stopped all import clearances for the U.S. Embassy, especially for liquor.

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