U.S. state dept should adhere to protocol, says Krishna

B D Narayankar

Press Trust of India

Bangalore, Nov 13: Taking strong exception to former
President A P J Abdul Kalam being frisked at New York's JFK
Airport, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today urged the
US State Department to adhere to protocol when government
dignitaries visit America.
"We will have to account for a mechanism where the US
strictly adheres to protocol when important Indian dignitaries
or government representatives visit US," he told reporters at
Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation
(IOC-ARC) meeting here.
Krishna said the external affairs ministry has instructed
Indian ambassador in the US Nirupama Rao to take up the issue
with the State Department.
Though the US has apologised to Abdul Kalam, India expects
such incidents do not occur in future, Krishna said.
"Whatever has happened is certainly not acceptable. We have
taken up the issue and protested. The U.S. has already
apologised to Kalam. We hope such incidents do not occur
again," he said.
Eighty-year-old Kalam was frisked in New York on Sept 29
before boarding an Air India flight.US security personnel also
forced the crew to open the door and took away Kalam's jacket
and boots to check for explosives since they had forgotten RPT
forgotten to do before his boarding.
The U.S. has apologised to Kalam, saying it "deeply
regretted the inconvenience that resulted for him (Kalam) as a
result of the Sep 29 incident involving security screening at
JFK Airport in New York."
Outraged at the frisking incident, India today threatened
retaliatory action against US dignitaries unless such
"unacceptable" practices were stopped.