India livid on pat-down of envoy in US airport

Dec 10, 2010 |

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Dec. 9: New Delhi on Thursday described as “unacceptable” the frisking at an American airport of Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar earlier this month. On December 4, she had been pulled out of an airport security line in the US state of Mississippi and subjected to a humiliating body search despite her announcing her identity and producing her diplomatic credentials.

Reports from the US indicated she might have been singled out for an intrusive body search as she was wearing a sari.

External affairs minister S.M. Krishna said the government would take the matter up with Washington. “Let me be frank, this is unacceptable to India. We are going to take it up with the government of the US (to ensure) such unpleasant incidents do not recur,” he told reporters outside Parliament House.

“[There are] certain well-established conventions, well-established practices as to how members of the diplomatic corps are treated in a given country [but] I am rather surprised by the way the Indian ambassador to the US has been treated,” he said.

When asked if a report had been sought from the United States, Mr Krishna said: “There are various procedures through which we take it up with the US government.”

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