Meera Shankar, India's US Ambassador, Got 'Unacceptable' Frisking

Meera Shankar, India's US Ambassador, Got 'Unacceptable' Frisking

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India's not happy.

The country is upset its U.S. ambassador, Meera Shankar, was frisked by a female Transportation Security Administration official at an airport in Mississippi last week, according to The Associated Press.

Witnesses at Jackson-Evers International Airport said Shankar, who was on her way to Baltimore on Dec. 4 after giving a speech at Mississippi State University, was singled out for wearing a sari, The Clarion-Ledger reported.

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So much for the good old days of Diplomatic Immunity! India is pretty peeved over it’s U.S. Ambassador’s treatment at the hands of the TSA who has twice now been singled out for “intensive screening” because of her traditional dress.

A quiet diplomatic storm might be brewing as the former Indian President was outraged last year when he was forced to remove his own shoes, in India by TSA Agents operating there on a U.S. bound flight.

I can’t say as I can blame the man there, as the TSA is operating internationally as a Security Force in host nations under Warsaw Convention Treaties governing airlines that probably never envisioned this kind of abuse occurring in the name of Airline Security.

While Americans themselves seem well trained to accept the increasingly intrusive, dangerous and demeaning screening methods and procedures nations who aren’t as ‘free’ as ours, are becoming increasingly upset over TSA procedures.

Hopefully one of them will get serious and boycott American goods and trades to show the U.S. they mean business in curtailing these abuses of travelers.


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Kind of sad when there's more personal freedom and less government interference in India than in the United States.

She was probably just annoyed that she was being treated like a normal person, and that dented her ego, after-all, people like that are better than us, right..? Everyone should receive the same treatment in my eyes, the real travesty is that anyone at all is being TSA'd. But, as you say, perhaps this person is of enough importance to deliver some real repercussions and sway opinion even further away from TSA- a long shot, though

The ambassador basically had her diplomatic credentials dismissed and ignored by TSA Agents, an act that could lead to a true diplomatic incident.

One wonders if she is being specifically targeted to try to create an atmosphere where no one is above the scrutiny of the TSA despite time honored practices and protections like those that surround people with diplomatic credentials.

While it might be comforting to some that no one is above the law, the flip side is no one is protected any longer by abuses of the law.

We certainly do have a real monster on our hands with the TSA.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


By now people should realise that the US is a prison state..

When you visit a prison this is the sort of security you must go through..

Originally posted by Joehio
Kind of sad when there's more personal freedom and less government interference in India than in the United States.

You know this is a pretty sad truth that is starting to become more and more apparent. Expatriated Americans living in Eastern European former communist block countries find them to much more free when it comes to all these insane rules and laws.

Russia itself seems to be offering more liberties to it's citizens than the Government here in the United States is.

The Russians are right I think, we really do seem to have the best propaganda in the world.

Thanks for posting.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Anyone who tries that on my partner is going to get a slap... regardless of their position.. Since I don't want to get arrested for battering a customs officers I think it best I avoid America and anywhere that treats people that way..

Tho I can not understand Americans accepting this.. I used to work with some cool ones and when travelling to/from Moscow during the days of the USSR they'd go out of their way to have a fight with the KGB on their way back to the UK.. *shakes head* can't imagine how you all ended up this way..



Edit to add: just to qualify the above statement about myself, I am a placid person, takes a lot to rile me and even then my responses have always been very measured.. however the inappropriate nature of the search technqiue used I would not be able to control my response..

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


And now, we wait. Anyone notice what they said they're doing to walmart?

It's gotta be a fun day down at the State Department.

Hoooo-boyee, you don't frisk ambassadors, it's one of those things you just don't do.

This underscores the point people are making at how the TSA agents are unprofessional, untrained, flunkies.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

By now people should realise that the US is a prison state..

When you visit a prison this is the sort of security you must go through..

Getting processed in and out of jail is always the worst part of doing time. You think they would just let us stay!

Great post.

Thanks for joining in.

So she is diffrent then the rest of us and shouldnt get frisked????
It was a matter of time before this "You cant touch or do anything to me because of my religion" mentality came to a head way.
If she didnt like being frisked then she should do more in protesting this issue. Would she rather of had a male do the frisking??

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
So she is diffrent then the rest of us and shouldnt get frisked????

She is an ambassador.

You are not an ambassador.

She is different from you.

I LOVE IT!!!!

Ahhh yes... every one is equal :-)

At least theyre consistant and apply equal groping for all.. So much for diplomatic immunity in Amerika..

reply to post by mr10k


NO i didnt catch what they were going to do at Walmart...please fill me in on it. I need a good reason not to go to that diseased store.

Edit: Never mind i found it. Really stupid idea!

reply to post by Exuberant1


Maybe in your or their eyes Im diffrent, hence why I have no issues with her being felt up. If you dont like it, then dont come, Im sure the look on her face was priceless as she was told her Diplomatic status didnt matter.....oohhh how the earth must have stopped spinning at that moment.

Originally posted by Expat888
At least theyre consistant and apply equal groping for all.. So much for diplomatic immunity in Amerika..

Yeah I think the U.S. Government is now under the impression that the only Diplomat in the world is Hilary Clinton, who would probably be avoided like the plague by the TSA even if she wasn't the Secretary of State!

Originally posted by Exuberant1

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
So she is diffrent then the rest of us and shouldnt get frisked????

She is an ambassador.

You are not an ambassador.

She is different from you.

While it seems unfair if Ambassadors weren't granted exceptional privelege critical diplomatic exchanges could not take place.

For instance the Japanese Ambassador delivering Japan's Declaration of War minutes after Pearl Harbor. As reprehensible as an act as it was, providing Ambassadors freedom of movement and immunity from any crimes that they might commit on behalf of their nations is critical to keeping channels of communication open at the highest levels.

When a nation can't send an Ambassador unmollested and unprotected from searches and seizures and criminal charges then it's certainly going to send bombs, missiles and troops instead.

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
reply to post by Exuberant1

 

Maybe in your or their eyes Im diffrent, hence why I have no issues with her being felt up. If you dont like it, then dont come, Im sure the look on her face was priceless as she was told her Diplomatic status didnt matter.....oohhh how the earth must have stopped spinning at that moment.

It's actually very serious and a two sided coin and failure to honor diplomatic immunity puts our own foreign diplomats at risk too of unlawful searches, seizures and detentions.

Ambassordors are sovereign representatives of their nation. Interfering with their duties or mollesting them is viewed as if you actually committed that act to the head of the nation that they represent. Wars have been fought over less, and considering many people are fairly convinced war is in the offing to reduce population, these are the kind of deliberate provocations that could lead to one.