Insecurity check

The civil aviation ministry has strongly objected to the US Transportation Security Administration TSA for its armtwisting methods and for interfering in the internal matters of India. The TSA instructed Indian airports to comply with its standards on explosive trace detection and has even penalised a US-bound Indian carrier for failing to work by its rules. The ministry,though,is most worked up about the TSAs temerity in frisking Indias dignitaries former president Abdul Kalam has undergone the experience at least twice,and India had then threatened reciprocal searches of US officials,just to prove a point. Now,the civil aviation ministry has asked the MEA to intervene,warning the US about a diplomatic impasse.

The TSA was set up after 9/11 with the explicit mandate to secure all US transport. The TSA is statutorily required to assess the effectiveness of foreign airports,with the permission of the host government and can take secretarial action,including withholding the right to operate flights to the US. Its methods may be annoying and arbitrary,but it firmly believes this process is the only thing standing between the US and total destruction. Their list of contraband items swells with every perceived threat,they scan and pat down even body and object. But this overblown security kabuki has simply become a fact of international travel. Roughly 300 foreign airports provide last point of departure flights to the United States.

The point is,all inbound passengers are meant to submit to the same rules the TSAs procedures are certainly not meant to be a national affront or encroachment on sovereign rights the one prickly nation that refuses to cooperate is Venezuela. India has overreacted every time one of its VIPs has any kind of routine encounter with the TSA we believe that they have the right to breeze through cordons and checks. The civil aviation ministry and the MEA should try and work with TSA on how better to secure airports and travel for passengers rather than make it an issue of national prestige.