Pranab frisking: Officials goofed up, India protests

New Delhi: While India has lodged a protest over the ‘frisking’ of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee before his aircraft took off from Moscow on October 13, it has emerged that the incident was most likely the result of a ‘mix-up’ by Indian Foreign Service officers who kept security officials out of the loop.
The First Secretary (Political), who liaises with Russia’s Federal Security Bureau, had not been told before that Mukherjee was to take off from Vnukovo airport. So the security personnel at the airport did not know the dignitary was expected.
While moving towards the lounge area, Mukherjee was walking ahead, with Indian Ambassador to Russia Prabhat Shukla and another IFS officer following him. Before they knew it, the security officials had already checked Mukherjee’s chest and back. The frisking stopped only after the Ambassador rushed ahead and intervened.
That was not the only embarrassment on the trip.
Mukherjee couldn’t meet Putin who was away in Iran or Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who was busy meeting Condoleezza Rice at the time.
India had first given two dates to Russia for Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony’s visits—October 17 to 19 for Antony and October 29 to 30 for Mukherjee. In their eagerness to schedule the External Affairs Minister’s visit before the Defence Minister’s visit, officials pushed for October 11.
21/10/07 Shishir Gupta/Indian Express

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007