- NEW DELHI: India's foreign minister said Thursday it was unacceptable that the country's ambassador to the United States was patted down by a security agent at a Mississippi airport, and said he would complain to Washington.
The ambassador, Meera Shankar, was returning from giving a speech at Mississippi State University last week when she was pulled out of line at the airport and given a pat down by a female Transportation Security Administration agent.
The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson, Mississippi, quoted witnesses as saying Shankar, who was wearing a sari, was told she was singled out for additional screening because of her dress.
Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said this was the second time the ambassador had been singled out for a pat down in the past three months.
"Let me be very frank that this is unacceptable to India," he said. "We are going to take it up with the government of the United States, and I hope that things could be resolved so that such unpleasant incidents do not recur."
A TSA spokesman said diplomats were not exempt from the searches, and that bulky clothing could prompt a pat down.
