Frisking of Former President

Frisking of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is an affront to our country. He is the most revered former President of India and not a person to be treated as every other Indian citizen. He has some privileges and we are bound to honour them. The embarrassing manner in which Continental Airlines treated Dr APJ Abdul Kalam should be seriously viewed

It has been reported that Dr Kalam was subjected to security check and even asked to take his shoes off by the airline staff just as he was about to board the aircraft. He was made to stand in line with other passengers. This is quite unbecoming of any airliners operating in India. Could they imagine frisking Bill Clinton or Condoleezza Rice by a security staff? The Continental airline extrapolating the whole episode as ‘standard procedure’ is a non-sense. The lack of general knowledge on the part of the security officials of Continental Airlines not to identify Kalam is a sufficient reason for disqualifying them from the present job.

India need not raise this issue before the US, instead impose an outright ban on the operation of Continental Airlines’ inside the country. No security personals should be permitted to breach Indian protocols within the country.

K A Solaman