India to protest envoy’s ‘pat down’, US says diplomats not exempt (Night Lead)

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON - India Thursday termed as “unacceptable” the “pat down” search Indian ambassador Meera Shankar was subjected to in the US, the second time in three months, and said it will take up the issue. Washington however, asserted that diplomats were not exempt from the searches even as it expressed regret and agreed to look into the incident.

“I am rather surprised by the way the Indian ambassador to the US has been treated. This has happened for a second time in three months,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters in New Delhi.

“Let me be frank, this is unacceptable to India. We are going to take it up with the government of US that such unpleasant incidents do not recur,” said Krishna.

He added that there were “certain well-established conventions, well-established practices, as to how members of the diplomatic corps are treated in a given country”.

The minister pointed out that India had a “very cordial relationship” with the US and hoped this was taken forward.

Government sources in New Delhi said that the external affairs ministry has sent a demarche to the US over the issue and is expecting an apology for this “unacceptable” behaviour by the US authorities.

The ministry is also looking for an assurance from the US that “this kind of behaviour is not repeated in the future and Indian diplomats are not subjected to additional screenings”, said the sources.

On Dec 4, Shankar was subjected to a rigorous public “pat down” at the Jackson-Evers International Airport after a visit as a guest of the Mississippi State University.

According to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Shankar was singled out from a group of 30 passengers and pulled aside. Witnesses told the paper that she was chosen as she was wearing a sari.

Amid the uproar, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) asserted that diplomats are not exempt from the searches. Shankar “was screened in accordance with TSA’s security policies and procedures”, spokesman Nicholas Kimball said in Washington. A number of factors could prompt a pat-down search, including bulky clothing, but he said the agency did not generally discuss specific cases.

Kimball said less than three percent of passengers received a pat-down search and anyone who asked for a private screening would be taken to a room out of public view.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s spokesman Dan Turner said the governor’s office was looking into the incident. “At this time, we’re trying to find out exactly what happened,” Turner said.

However, Indian officials say Shankar was pulled from an airport security line and patted down by an American security agent in Mississippi despite being told of her diplomatic status.

The official said the Indian embassy will take up the issue with the State Department.

Apparently, TSA’s guidelines do not have any exceptions for foreign dignitaries, but officers have the discretion to pick and choose, depending on whether they set off metal detectors, the newspaper said. The Indian ambassador did not set off any alarms.

At the same time, TSA allows additional screenings when passengers are wearing “bulky” clothing.

The Clarion-Ledger added that Shankar had asked for a private security check, but she was led to clear box for the “pat down” in public view.

“The way they pat them down - it was so humiliating,” said Tan Tsai, a research associate at MSU’s International Security Studies Center who witnessed the screening. “Anybody who passed by could see it.”

Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant, who had met Shankar during her visit to the state, said that they regretted the “outrageous” way she was treated.

“Although I understand we need proper security measures to protect the passengers in US airports, I regret the outrageous way Indian Ambassador Shankar was treated by the TSA while visiting Jackson,” he said in an e-mail to Clarion-Ledger.

The Jackson airport does not yet have full-body screeners, which meant that the ambassador became subject to the pat down.