India's ambassador Meera Shankar frisked at US airport

The India's ambassador to US,Meera Shankar,was removed from an airport security line and frisked by a security agent in Mississippi,United States.

The hands-on search was carried out last week even after Meera Shankar's diplomatic status was revealed.

Ms Shankar, who was on her way from a conference, was isolated because she was wearing a sari.The Indian embassy in Washington strongly protested about the incident.

The search took place on the 4th December, at the Jackson-Evers International Airport

The news agency “Press Trust of India” quoted an Indian Embassy official as saying:

Ms Shankar was about to go on board a flight which was scheduled to go Baltimore after attending an event at Mississippi State University. She was taken to a VIP waiting room despite the fact that the staff  had been told that she was an ambassador.

later she was pulled out from a security line and patted down by one female Transportation Security Administration agent.

The External Affairs Minister,SM Krishna,told reporters in Delhi that this was unacceptable to India and that he would take it up with the US government,hoping things could be resolved so that such unpleasant incidents do not reoccur.

The incident also embarrassed the university officials who had earlier invited Ms Shankar to give a speech.

"It was a wonderful program”,External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told reporters in Delhi,

“ maybe the best we've had, (but) this stupid incident ruined the whole thing."

Associated Press quoted Janos Radvanyi, chair of the university's international studies department as saying.

"She said, 'I will never come back here'. We are sending her a letter of apology," he said.

Just last year, America's Continental Airlines apologized to the former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam for frisking him before he boarded a flight to the US.

Members of India's parliament were outraged after it emerged that Mr Kalam had been frisked and made to pull off his shoes at Delhi airport last April.