With no connection with agreeing to or disagreeing to the episode I have following comments to make. It is not the Ex Prez was exposed to security checks. It is the fear of todays politician that they will be exposed to this type of checks when they are used to best of all the green lights. Having said so, these people were not interested in supporting him for 2nd term because that he follows the rules and was not a rubber stamped prez.
Take Laloo, Maya, Mulayam who protested when SPG was supposed to be withdrawn and bosses agreed to review it. But residents of Delhi will suffer. I am sure if u think about it under this and ur views will change. On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 8:08 PM, Srinivasan MS <[email protected]>wrote: > > *A news item which is brought to my notice , which I am simply sharing. I > am pained to say that It shows **Continental Airlines of **the country > which it represent is having poor general knowledge and do not respect the > rules formulated for protocol. Do they, not have a discreationary powers. > The attitude reflects that they are not having self confidence and hide > their folly in the name of protocol. Will they wake up atleast now, and take > corrective steps so that such incidences are not repeated by any one/* > *cnu.pne* > > > > > > > Economic Times 3rd EDIT > 2009-07-24 > > The Continental defence > > *Acting In Perfectly Good Faith* > > ** > > IF Continental Airlines really gets to a stage of needing a defence of > its frisking of our former President, it might not do too badly to point out > that it was actually acting in perfectly good faith. The rules of passenger > profiling and the criteria of various terror watch lists that US airlines > follow would make Dr APJ Abdul Kalam a prime candidate for the kind of > secondary screening that the he was forced to undergo. > > > > *South Asian?** **Yes.** * > > *Muslim?** **Yes.** * > > *Unusual amount and style of hair?** **Yes.** * > > *Grew up in a small town known for its places of worship?** **Yes.*** > > *Attended Arabic school to learn the Koran as a child?** **Yes.** * > > *Technical postgraduate degree?** **Yes.** * > > *Worked with ballistic missiles?** **Yes.*** > > *Had a leading role in nuclear weapons programme of a 3rd world country?** > **Yes.*** > > > > Kalam, mercifully, does not carry the surname Khan, which has been the bane > of other Indian celebrities who had earlier been at the receiving end of US > immigration authorities. So in terms of basic profiling, Kalam would be a > sitting duck. > > > All of this pales before the fact that the subject was a former > President, and as per [India’s] protocol, exempt. But to that defence, may > we suggest that he was a Head of State who isn’t elected by the popular > vote, and a Head of State of a large and fractious developing country with > at least two domestic terror insurgencies that it is struggling to control. > So Continental seems perfectly justified in picking on Kalam. > > > > *The former President himself is reported to have had “no problems” with > the search, so perhaps our good representatives in Parliament could direct > their energies to protesting the ban that prevents any passengers, whatever > the age, religion, history of criminal, terrorist or medical activities, > from carrying a bottle of water, a container of lotion or a liquid of any > description aboard an aircraft, despite there being no history whatsoever of > any such container of liquid taking up arms against the plane. * > > > Automated Message... > > Unless specifically mentioned, this is not original. I do not vouch for the > authenticity of the contents which have been passed on with good intentions. > If you do not wish to receive messages from me, please send me just one word > to that effect. I don't accept any responsibility for any loss or damage > arising out of the use of the message herein. The credit resulting from its > use is all yours. > > > > > > >
