Meera Shankar, Indian Ambassador To The U.S., Frisked At Mississippi Airport

Meera Shankar, India's ambassador to the United States, was pulled aside and frisked at Mississippi's Jackson-Evers International Airport after speaking at a conference at Mississippi State University, according to the Associated Press.

The sari-clad ambassador was boarding a flight to Baltimore when TSA officials took her to a VIP waiting room to receive a pat-down by a female TSA agent.

Jackson's Clarion-Ledger newspaper quoted airport witnesses who said Shankar was singled out for her dress.

India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told reporters in Delhi: "This is unacceptable to India and we are going to take it up with the US government and I hope things could be resolved so that such unpleasant incidents do not recur," according to the BBC.

Quick Poll

Should government officials across the board be exempt from patdowns?

No way.

Absolutely!

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Comments

[saintpeterii]

09:22 AM on 12/27/2010

End the Muslim Wars before things get a lot worse here. Bring our armies home. Even if the full body scans and the groping at the airports to nothing to make anyone safer, at least they do provide jobs and help prepare the American public for the full body scans and cavity searches in the malls that will soon be a reality. See Federal Gropers at http://www.saintpeterii.com/blog/?p=543

[MRFreeSpeech2010]

10:44 PM on 12/13/2010

TSA officials at Houston airport in Texas wanted to check India’s Permanent Representative at the UN Hardeep Singh Puri’s turban. The Sikh gentleman refused and they apologized. He guided them to the new regulation and they followed it. Nice waste of resources when foreign diplomats have to teach TSA officials. Why not outsource their jobs to Indians? On a lighter not I wish I worked for the TSA. I would love to give Ariana Huffington a thorough pat down. She looked immensely patable on the Conan show last week.

[MRFreeSpeech2010]

10:55 PM on 12/13/2010

Forgot about her accent. Damn! It's more exotic than a sari!

[HeliosOne]

02:02 PM on 12/13/2010

I don't really like the way this poll is worded. I answered "No" because not all foreign government officials across the board should always be exempt from patdowns. However, members of a diplomatic corps, of which the ambassador obviously is, should ALWAYS be exempted. It's one of the most basic elements of diplomacy -- the diplomats have special privileges and immunity. It's been like that since long, long before 9/11.

[saintpeterii]

08:53 PM on 12/12/2010

What the heck, what do we need India for? free no log-in editorial cartoons see
Federal Gropers at http://www.saintpeterii.com/blog/?p=543

[CS Padmanabhan]

06:49 PM on 12/11/2010

The whole issue is why the pat down was not done in a closed venue. Instead the
ambassador was lead to a transparent box and other people could see what was
going on inside. The ambassador had asked the TSA officials to conduct the pat
down in a closed venue. TSA officials did not follow proper procedures.Moreover,
the ambassador had come to the airport escorted by a Jackson police officer who
had informed the airport police that Shankar was an ambassador and the
ambassador presented her diplomatic papers.The metal detector did not go off.

[Gary Zaetz]

03:58 PM on 12/11/2010

As an American citizen, I believe the Indian Government is right to demand an apology from my Government for this violation of Ambassador Shankar's diplomatic privileges. At the same time, the Indian Government owes an apology to the United States for a much more serious affront. Approximately 400 American aviators perished in the mountains of northeast India during the Second World War. These aviators have families who desperately desire to have their remains repatriated. But by imposing draconian restrictions on the scale of permitted crash site recovery operations, the Government of India has failed to fulfill its international law obligations to cooperate with America's efforts to recover the remains of these aviators. Hopefully, an apology for these international law violations and a genuine effort to meet these obligations will be forthcoming.

[Butterfly M]

11:08 PM on 12/12/2010

Keep the Southern Baptist evangelicals who fund arms to the Baptist christian renegade there away. ... They use things like this to operate illegally.

[Gary Zaetz]

05:30 PM on 12/24/2010

Butterfly M...these recovery operations are staffed by US Defense Department personnel only, not private American citizens, which you would know if you bothered to do any research. I challenge you to substantiate your claim that JPAC operations have been exploited by evangelicals.

[ontariogirl]

01:22 PM on 12/10/2010

Would the same be done to Hillary?

[kentj]

12:34 PM on 12/10/2010

TSA does racial/ethnic/religious profiling.

Women dressed in traditional Suri, Muslim Women attire and Jewish Women in Head Coverings,
are singled out for a pat down and/or scanning. Fact.

[KIVPossum]

11:35 AM on 12/10/2010

Tough. Welcome to the friendly sky of TSA

[samilli3]

05:59 PM on 12/12/2010

would they do the same to Clinton?

[RJ2500]

10:08 AM on 12/10/2010

Oh, I'm so sorry.

[jebamoni4]

09:55 AM on 12/10/2010

I am glad that TSA patted her to check routinely. As an Indian Amercian, I am proud that they are doing their intended job. In India Police men do not pay restaurant bills and politicians and high officials do not pay hotel bills etc and they are a special class to break in line. If they expect the same kind of preferences they are disappointed. Here everybody is supposed to be equal. Have you ever been to Houston Consulate office lately. To get a visa, or to cancel your old passport, you have to wait for days after paying large amount of fee. If these people could not do their job in a prompt way, why you expect more special treatment from others?

[Tenjikuronin]

02:22 PM on 12/10/2010

Actually, Meera Shankar is a diplomat. She's not a regular joe. As such, she is afforded additional courtesies, including diplomatic immunity. Don't believe for a second that American diplomats in India don't recieve the same.

[jebamoni4]

03:13 PM on 12/10/2010

She has diplomatic immunity for sending diplomatic mail. She need not pay any tax/duty imposed by this government. She need not even pay traffic fines,if state department nullify the fines. But, when the question of security in the airport is concerned, she is an ordinary Jane!!!

[Butterfly M]

11:09 PM on 12/12/2010

Unless and until Mrs OBama and Hillary et al are willing to go through this in India and at every other airport S T F U

[Luuke]

05:10 AM on 12/10/2010

Couldn't resist but this is a brilliant headline in an Indian newspaper...Thought I'd post :-)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/For-US-airport-security-saree-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/articleshow/7070125.cms

[gypsynomad]

12:27 PM on 12/14/2010

Just read it, astounding information....my question how d U mb ( pehaps lazy ?) these people are, why someone was not there to greet her...

[HappyMarsden]

02:16 AM on 12/10/2010

I don't know, but perhaps this is the reason we have not yet seen the second coming of Christ. He just doesn't want the headache of having to go through the TSA screeners.

[Pinkasaurus]

07:30 PM on 12/09/2010

From the Jackson Clairon-Ledger: "Those who witnessed the ambassador's screening said officers told her that she was singled out because of the way she was dressed. Shankar was wearing a sari - a traditional Indian robe that is draped across the body."
 
I am a bit skeptical of this. I am not convinced that the TSA did not single this woman out because of the way she was dressed, but I have to question whether officers would just tell these random "witnesses" that they were singally her out. I would venture to guess that some people standing around made assumptions about why she was being screened. Pure speculation, though.

[DyspepticLawyer]

07:30 PM on 12/09/2010

And here I thought there was no place where slack-jawed yokels could find a job in America.

[RJ2500]

10:09 AM on 12/10/2010

Well, there's the TSA and Old Country Buffet.