Forget frisking, says Kalam

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam speaks to the media after delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta on Monday. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

While the United States Embassy in New Delhi had expressed its regret over the frisking of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President said here on Monday that the issue was not worth talking about.

“Forget it. It is not worth talking [about],” he said to repeated questions from journalists on the sidelines of a programme at the Indian Institute of Management here.

Mr. Kalam was frisked twice on September 29 this year at New York's JFK Airport on his way back to India.

He was subjected to ‘private screening' as he did not come under the category of dignitaries exempted from screening, under stringent American guidelines.