The president of the South Asian Studies Association -- a non-profit professional association comprising professors and students at universities and colleges dedicated to 'understanding South Asia's cultures, histories, issues and opportunities' -- has slammed the recent humiliating pat-down of India's ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar and also taken Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to task for not expressing outrage over this incident.
Professor William Vanderbok, who heads SASA, said, "The recent public pat down of India's ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar by overzealous TSA employees at the Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi, even after she presented her credentials and was vouched for by the state governor's staff, was highly embarrassing to the ambassador."
"But it was humiliating to all Americans," said Vanderbok, a retired political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He asserted, "We do not, or at least should not, treat dignitaries of important international friends with such cavalier disregard."
He said he simply could not comprehend that Shankar had been reportedly "singled out for the pat down because she was wearing a sari," and added, "This excuse only serves to make our humiliation worse."
"To blame the pat down on overzealous TSA personnel is a too polite circumlocution. Terms like stupid and ignorant are much more appropriate," said Vanderbok.
He said the argument that the "TSA inspectors were simply following regulations is further bureaucratic obfuscation. In political life, stupidity is not a defence. Indo-American relations are far too important to be left to the discretion of low-level functionaries at a third-tier airport."
Vanderbok said Clinton's response that 'we obviously are concerned about it' was highly inadequate' and argued that Clinton needs to herself "immediately apologise to Ambassador Shankar, preferably in person given her initial gaffe, and do a whole lot more than indicate concern."
Asked by rediff.com about why he had issued such an angry statement, Vanderbok said, "I am just incensed about the totally inappropriate way in which she was treated. It was totally humiliating, particularly to such a high ranking diplomat and more so because she had presented all of her diplomatic credentials and even had someone from the governor's office with her."
"It's beyond comprehension that she was singled out this way and humiliated so publicly," he added.
Vanderbok said that the fall-out from this incident would be that Shankar, who has been traveling across the country and speaking at universities and colleges on India-US relations and meeting with faculty in American institutions, may decide to curtail such visits "and our colleges and universities will be the poorer."
"This really bothers me that these stupid inspectors could have done what they did and bring about such embarrassment to us Americans," he said.
Vanderbok reiterated that "this kind of treatment of diplomatic personnel will now make it more difficult to secure their participation in the activities and conferences that we put together regularly."
He was also quite peeved over what he saw as lukewarm action by Clinton and the State Department, arguing that "she (Clinton) could have been much more forceful."
Vanderbok said, "She (Clinton) should offer an unqualified apology and this should be done as quickly as possible to minimise any kind of ill-will that this kind of thing generates."
He said, "We, as university professors, have a tremendous amount of travel going back and forth to India, and we certainly want to be able to keep the goodwill on both sides. Otherwise, our ability to do research is compromised."
Vanderbok explained that "the history of diplomatic immunity in the West goes back just over 300 years. In India, it is sometimes traced back 1,000 years to the reign of Raja Chola's rule in Kerala."
"Unfortunately, today's thought process does not consider that relevant, but there is a simple commonsense aspect to the issue," he said, adding that diplomats who present their credentials should not be subject to such humiliating pat-downs.
