Another India envoy patted down at US airport: Report

NEW DELHI: India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Hardeep Puri, was subjected to a pat down at Houston Airport, Times Now reported on Monday.

According to TV reports, airport officials asked Hardeep Puri to remove his turban during a security check, but Puri refused to let security officials carry out their search. Puri was then made to wait for over half-an-hour in a 'holding room'.

India has lodged an official protest with the US authorities. Foreign minister S M Krishna will address the media on the incident at 2:30pm in New Delhi. Former diplomats in India have reacted aggressively to the Puri incident, saying that if Washington does not change its policy on searches, diplomats from the United States should also be ready to face such security in India.

They also called on the governments of the two counties to meet and resolve the issue at the earliest.

This is the second instance of an Indian envoy being patted down at a US airport.

On December 4, Indian ambassador to the US, Meera 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.

Shankar was subjected to an enhanced security pat-down at the Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi, ostensibly because she was dressed in sari — India's national female attire and her stock-in-trade.