Thursday, September 02, 2010
Offended Pakistani military team cancels U.S. visit
From The Hindu
In an incident that might test the stress points of the United States-Pakistan relationship, a nine-member delegation of Pakistani military officers travelling to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, was offloaded from its flight out of Dulles International Airport in Washington after one officer made “what a flight attendant considered to be an ‘inappropriate remark’”.
In a statement, the Pakistan military said one of its delegations was on a visit to the U.S. after receiving an invitation to attend a meeting at Central Command. According to the statement, the delegation was “subjected to unwarranted security checks at Washington airport by U.S. Transport Security Agency”.
The Pakistan military clarified that later on the delegation had been cleared and U.S. defence officials “regretted the incident”. It said, however, that as a result of these checks, military authorities in Pakistan decided to cancel the visit and call the delegation back.
The New York Times reported that the Pakistani delegation, led by a two-star general, was “offended by their treatment”. The newspaper quoted an account published in Dawn which said that U.S. security officials had detained the Pakistani delegation for two hours, “telling them nothing, not allowing them to talk to anyone”.
The article in Dawn quoted an unidentified Pakistani official as saying, “They were treated like terrorists.” Pakistani news reports were quoted also as saying that the incident may have begun when a passenger complained to U.S. officials that the Pakistani brigadier general was overheard making what were interpreted as threatening remarks.
The Dawn report also said that the Pakistani brigadier general had an altercation with a stewardess that delayed the flight by 40 minutes before the delegation was told to leave the plane.
In an incident that might test the stress points of the United States-Pakistan relationship, a nine-member delegation of Pakistani military officers travelling to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, was offloaded from its flight out of Dulles International Airport in Washington after one officer made “what a flight attendant considered to be an ‘inappropriate remark’”.
In a statement, the Pakistan military said one of its delegations was on a visit to the U.S. after receiving an invitation to attend a meeting at Central Command. According to the statement, the delegation was “subjected to unwarranted security checks at Washington airport by U.S. Transport Security Agency”.
The Pakistan military clarified that later on the delegation had been cleared and U.S. defence officials “regretted the incident”. It said, however, that as a result of these checks, military authorities in Pakistan decided to cancel the visit and call the delegation back.
The New York Times reported that the Pakistani delegation, led by a two-star general, was “offended by their treatment”. The newspaper quoted an account published in Dawn which said that U.S. security officials had detained the Pakistani delegation for two hours, “telling them nothing, not allowing them to talk to anyone”.
The article in Dawn quoted an unidentified Pakistani official as saying, “They were treated like terrorists.” Pakistani news reports were quoted also as saying that the incident may have begun when a passenger complained to U.S. officials that the Pakistani brigadier general was overheard making what were interpreted as threatening remarks.
The Dawn report also said that the Pakistani brigadier general had an altercation with a stewardess that delayed the flight by 40 minutes before the delegation was told to leave the plane.
Labels: Dulles Airport, Pakistani military officers, United States Pakistan relations
# posted by Narayan Lakshman @ 2:57 PM 
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