Asia

Asia

India protests US frisking of envoy

11 December 2010 18:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The New Delhi government has officially voiced its objection to Washington about the security frisking of the Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar at a US airport, APA reports quoting Press TV.

India has condemned the pat-down as unacceptable and rigorous, and has summoned deputy chief of the US Embassy in New Delhi.

"We made it clear it was unacceptable," a source in the external affairs ministry said on Saturday.

A few days ago the Indian Ambassador to the US, was pulled out of the security line at a Mississippi airport for a pat-down. Shankar was subjected to a similar search at a Chicago airport two months earlier.

This violates a protocol, which exempts diplomatic envoys and other dignitaries from such searches.

Indian officials have warned that the US move could lead to tit-for-tat response.
They have also threatened to review privileges granted to US diplomats if such incidents are repeated.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly expressed concern about the incident.

The Indian foreign minister earlier called the move unacceptable. S M Krishna says the envoy was subjected to what he calls a rigorous pat-down.

"There are well-established conventions, practices as to how diplomats are treated. I am surprised at the way our ambassador has been treated for the second time in three months," Krishna said on Thursday.

Some Indian newspaper reports insist that the ambassador was singled out because she was wearing a traditional Indian outfit.

Last year, India’s former president APJ Abdul Kalam was scanned by a metal detector before boarding a flight to the United States.

Many travelers of Middle Eastern, African and South Asian background have regularly been subjected to harassment and discrimination at US airports and border entry points following the 9/11 attacks on US soil.