US apologizes for frisking former Indian president Kalam

Nov 13, 2011, 10:24 GMT

New Delhi - The United States has apologized to India after former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked at a New York airport, officials said Sunday.

The incident had threatened to snowball into a diplomatic row with an outraged Indian Foreign Ministry saying that it may subject US officials to frisking unless such 'unacceptable' practices were stopped.

The matter came to light Sunday after Indian broadcasters reported the incident that took place when Kalam, 80, was returning home from New York on September 29.

In a statement issued by its embassy in New Delhi, the US said its government had the 'utmost respect' for Kalam.

'We deeply regret the inconvenience that resulted for him as a result of a September 29 incident involving the security screening at John F Kennedy Airport in New York,' it said.

Charge d'Affaires Ambassador Peter Burleigh personally delivered letters of apology from the US Transportation Security Administration to Kalam and the Indian government.

The letters also stated that 'appropriate procedures for expedited screening of dignitaries had not been followed.' The embassy said: 'We are actively working to prevent similar incidents in the future from occurring.'

In April 2009, Kalam was frisked by the staff of US-based Continental Airlines at New Delhi airport.

That incident caused an uproar in India and was debated in Parliament. The airline and US government later apologized to Kalam.

Kalam, who was president from 2002-07, is highly popular across the country. The nuclear scientist is known as India's 'missile man' for his work on the development of indigenous ballistic missile and space rocket technology.

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