This is An Outrage!
Indian ambassador subjected to US airport 'pat down'
India's ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, has been pulled from an airport security line and patted down by a security agent in Mississippi after attending a conference.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...assador-subjected-to-US-airport-pat-down.html
The hands-on search last week also embarrassed the university officials who invited Meera Shankar, India's ambassador to the United States, to give a speech for an international studies program.
"It was a wonderful program, maybe the best we've had, (but) this stupid incident ruined the whole thing. She said, 'I will never come back here,"' said Janos Radvanyi, chair of Mississippi State University's international studies department. "We are sending her a letter of apology."
But a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said diplomats are not exempt from the searches and that Ms Shankar, who was wearing a sari at the time, "was screened in accordance with TSA's security policies and procedures."
Officials at the Indian embassy in Washington declined to discuss what happened.
A Jackson police officer escorted Ms Shankar to Jackson-Evers International Airport on Saturday for a flight to Baltimore, Mr Radvanyi said, and she was taken to a VIP waiting room.
The officer informed airport police that Ms Shankar was an ambassador, but she was later pulled from a security line and patted down by a female TSA agent.
The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson quoted witnesses as saying Ms Shankar was told she was singled out for additional screening because of her dress.
The TSA has come under fire for new security measures including body scanners and pat-downs that critics say intrude on the privacy of airline passengers.
Indian ambassador subjected to US airport 'pat down'
India's ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, has been pulled from an airport security line and patted down by a security agent in Mississippi after attending a conference.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...assador-subjected-to-US-airport-pat-down.html
The hands-on search last week also embarrassed the university officials who invited Meera Shankar, India's ambassador to the United States, to give a speech for an international studies program.
"It was a wonderful program, maybe the best we've had, (but) this stupid incident ruined the whole thing. She said, 'I will never come back here,"' said Janos Radvanyi, chair of Mississippi State University's international studies department. "We are sending her a letter of apology."
But a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said diplomats are not exempt from the searches and that Ms Shankar, who was wearing a sari at the time, "was screened in accordance with TSA's security policies and procedures."
Officials at the Indian embassy in Washington declined to discuss what happened.
A Jackson police officer escorted Ms Shankar to Jackson-Evers International Airport on Saturday for a flight to Baltimore, Mr Radvanyi said, and she was taken to a VIP waiting room.
The officer informed airport police that Ms Shankar was an ambassador, but she was later pulled from a security line and patted down by a female TSA agent.
The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson quoted witnesses as saying Ms Shankar was told she was singled out for additional screening because of her dress.
The TSA has come under fire for new security measures including body scanners and pat-downs that critics say intrude on the privacy of airline passengers.
You can not blame the US for doing this. If Indian government do not want to include diplomats in the official list of dignitaries who are excluded from routine security check up then why to blame other countries.
This is not the new thing. Many Incidents had happened in past also when Defence minister George Fernandes , Aviation minister praful patel , Abdul Kalam were stop and frisked.
