Need to respect cultural sensitivities

After India’s ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, had to undergo a pat-down search, comes news that India’s top diplomat to the UN, Hardeep Puri, a Sikh, had to undergo a similar search, where he was asked to remove his turban.

These two incidents leave a bad taste in the mouth. It is no one’s case that security imperatives should be watered down to accommodate VIPs, given the times we live in.

In fact, in the week gone by, there have been terror blasts in Stockholm and Varanasi, which reinforce the fact that one simply cannot be too careful these days about security. It might appear churlish to criticise the search that Shankar and Puri had to undergo, but there are two considerations that give us Indians a reason to be upset.

First is the element of racism. Both Shankar and Puri carried ethnic Indian markers, and few will deny that in the US, non-whites are always searched more thoroughly than the average American.

Shankar was in a sari, a bulky dress (as defined by Americans) that merited a second search while Puri’s turban was no doubt a lightning rod for the airport security officials.

What adds insult to injury was that Shankar was searched publicly, while in Puri’s case, he had to inform the guards that they had no right to check his turban; he would check it himself as per the rules. No one will be asking for too much in demanding that the security guards be trained to respect cultural differences and sensitivities. In the case of Shankar and Puri, this was clearly missing, which is unacceptable.

The second fact is that both were travelling on diplomatic passports. Diplomats are entitled to certain privileges, accorded since ancient times and codified in 1708 by the British parliament. If Washington has decided to unilaterally do away with the same, then it should inform the world accordingly and treat all diplomats the same way.

Otherwise there will always be the lingering sentiment that Shankar and Puri had to undergo extra searches, despite their diplomatic status, merely because they have a darker skin tone. This amounts to racial
profiling, and this cannot be allowed to pass.