People's Democracy

Search of Indian Ambassador:

Have Reciprocity

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on December 10, 2010.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) deplores the frisking of the Indian ambassador to the United States, Meera Shankar, by security personnel at an airport in the United States. More objectionably, the Indian ambassador was selected for an enhanced pat-down from amongst the passengers.

It is not enough for the Indian government to say that such frisking is unacceptable. Since the US authorities have stated that ambassadors are not exempt from security searches, what the government should do is to adopt a reciprocal approach. The US ambassador in India should be subjected to security searches on domestic flights in India.