Talk about a long flight going to waste.
A delegation of six Pakistani politicians, refused to step into a body scanner at Dulles International Airport in Washington, saying it was an affront to them.They chose, instead, to go right back home.
The pols, senators from the National Assembly from the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), that includes the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan, were in America for a 15-day official visit. The head of the delegation, Senator Abbas Khan Afridi, was quoted as telling Pakistani news channel Geo-TV that they considered the body-scan an insult to parliamentarians of a sovereign country. He said they were informed before their arrival in the US that they would not face any such discrimination during their visit at the invitation of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton (DNA India).
Body scanners were introduced in 19 airports across the United States after a suspected Nigerian terrorist tried to explode an “underwear bomb” on Christmas, last year. The device failed, but the attempt triggered off a wave of heightened security across U.S. airports. Nationals from 14 countries, including Pakistan are on a list that demands that citizens be subject to a full body scan upon their arrival to the States.
In this case, the senators’ tantrums makes one wonder if they had something to hide…or if they were just feeling shy.
