i am amazed how people react to certain situations-in this case it is the much talked about frisking of indian ex-president a.p.j. kalam. a look at the blogs, articles and comments and you would immediately notice that people think its a question of whether the VVIPs are equal to the common public etc etc. (if u ask me, the answer is objectively no - a VVIP is subjected to much scrutiny of public and private lives, and his/her reputation is much more credible. common public wants equality without the pains of everybody watching them - so no, VVIP definitely arent equal to common public when it comes to airport security. yes they are equal in the eyes of the law in case of crime and punishment - but certainly not in these cases). however, indian authorities never took a stand that since he was a VVIP, he should be exempted. lets see what the fuss technically is about:
1. according to indian laws, certain people are exempt from airport frisking, that includes a famous son-in-law and some VVIPs.
2. US law might demand frisking of everybody, BUT and thats a big objection
3. this incident happened on indian soil
so the question is not of equality but rather whose laws would be applicable in this case. lets see:
1. if u say indian laws, then certainly continental airlines was wrong and they should be fined
2. if u say US laws, then continental airlines should have pointed out that US bound flights are governed by US laws (superceding the indian laws)
3. if it is unclear, then u have to admit that indian laws should be applied, simply coz of the location of the incident
4. now, if US (or any airline) has problems with 1 or 3 above, then they should approach through the diplomatic channels to resolve the ambiguity. till then, they have to abide by what indian laws say
if US wants everybody to be frisked, then either they should request indian laws to be changed for US bound flights, or make it clear (to indian authorities) that they would follow US laws ONLY and simply refuse to fly whosoever doesnt follow US laws, or frisk them in US. but they can not fly from india and not honour local laws.
