India's sari-clad ambassador was pulled from an airport security line and patted down by a security agent in Mississippi after attending a conference, an act one state agency official called ``unfortunate.'' 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 Shankar ``was screened in accordance with TSA's security policies and procedures.''
What happened to Shankar reflects the strong emotions surrounding the TSA's pat-down procedures, and raises questions about the proper handling of diplomats as well as foreign travellers with different styles of dress. Officials at the Indian embassy in Washington declined to discuss what happened. Radvanyi, the Mississippi State educator, said Shankar, 60, spoke at a university program last Friday. A Jackson police officer escorted Shankar to Jackson-Evers International Airport on Saturday for a flight to Baltimore, Radvanyi said, and she was taken to a VIP waiting room.
The officer informed airport police that Shankar was an ambassador, but she was later pulled from a security line and patted down by a female TSA agent, Randvanyi said. The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson quoted witnesses as saying Shankar was told she was singled out for additional screening because of her dress. She had on a sari, which drapes across the body and is worn by many Indian women.
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