The Indian government on Thursday said the frisking of former president APJ Abdul Kalam at New York's JFK Airport was a "blunder" and it would not accept the violation of any rules that exempted certain dignitaries.
Speaking at a function here, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was willing to send an official to apologise, but the "former president was an extremely gracious person" and the matter was closed.
"With respect to the particular incident of a former president, it was a serious blunder on the part of the TSA official... They were willing to send an official to apologise. The former president was an extremely gracious person," he said when asked what his ministry was doing to prevent incidents like the one where Kalam was frisked twice at New York airport last September.
"Rules and regulations are laid down. They apply to everyone... when exemptions are there, they must apply to India as well," he said.
"We need to learn to get along with the world, as much as they need to understand us," he added.
