Shed turban, envoy to UN told at Houston airport

If Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar had to undergo a pat down search at Michigan airport on Dec 4, it has now emerged that a few days earlier, Hardeep Puri, India’s permanent representative at the UN, was asked to remove his turban by airport security staff at Houston. HT reports.

Another high-ranking Indian diplomat has been insulted at yet another airport in the United States.

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If Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar had to undergo a pat down search at Michigan airport on December 4, it has now emerged that a few days earlier, Hardeep Puri, India’s permanent representative at the United Nations, was asked to remove his turban by airport security staff at Houston.

When Puri refused to do so he was pulled out of the queue and made to wait for half an hour in a separate ‘holding room’.

India has lodged an official protest through its Consulate General in Houston with the US authorities, sources said. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, external affairs minister SM Krishna said he hoped the issue would be sorted out soon.

The TSA, which handles security at airports, has said its rules allow it to search diplomats too. But Krishna said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had hinted that Washington could revise its policy.