India raise concern over diplomat’s turban check at U.S. airport
By SiliconIndia
Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 15:58 Hrs |
Houston: Indian foreign ministry raised concern over the recent security search in a U.S. airport were Hardeep Puri, India’s UN envoy was detained in a holding room for a turban check, reports BBC News.
Hardeep Puri, was reportedly asked to remove his turban at an airport in Houston, Texas, two weeks ago which he denied and was later detained. The incident follows India’s U.S. ambassador Meera Shanker being searched at an airport earlier this month. Foreign Minister SM Krishna told that they have taken it up with the US authorities and the Puri’s matter is at that stage. According to the Sikh tradition, a turban symbolises self-respect, honour, and piety. Touching of the head dress in public is not allowed.
Normally the turban is only removed in the most personal of circumstances, when washing the face or hair. The hands-on search on Maya Shankar at the airport in Mississippi, even after her diplomatic status revealed, raised uproar in India. US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the time the search had been “appropriate”. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern about the incident after India’s external affairs ministry called it unacceptable.
*****************************************
California Aviation Alliance: Airport News List E-mail
Sent by AviaEd@netscape.net – Lorena de Rodriguez on behalf of CAA subscribers. Add your comments to these stories realtime online at http://aviaed.wordpress.com/.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Airport News List, send an email, from the email account you wish to receive or discontinue CAA posts on, addressed to imailsrv@californiaaviation.org and place only the following in the first line of the body of the message: Subscribe airport YourFirstName YourLastName YourJobTitle YourAirport/Company
Manage your CAA subscriptions with the user friendly Mail List Administration database. You’ll find it at: http://californiaaviation.org/cal/index.cfm
Contact stepheni@cwnet.com with problems with your subscription.