Pak lawmakers move to Parliament over ‘discriminatory’ body scanning at US airport

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani lawmakers belonging to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have submitted a joint resolution before the Senate parliamentary secretary to rake up the issue of full body scanning at US airports in both houses of parliament.

“We submitted a joint resolution against the US law for body scanning, particularly for Pakistanis,” The Daily Times quoted Senator Hafiz Abdur Rasheed, as saying.

It may be noted that a parliamentary delegation led by Senator Abbas Afridi had returned home ending their America tour abruptly after the parliamentarians were asked to the routine body scanning process at an airport in the US.

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan’s name is in the list of 14 countries, whose citizens have to go for full body screening before boarding a plane to the US.

Under new rules, all citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen must receive a pat down and an extra check of their carry-on bags before boarding a plane bound for America.

Meanwhile, US Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said the parliamentarians were informed in advance that they would have to undergo the scanning.

“We are sad about the decision of the parliamentarians. We told them before the visit that they would have to face the body scanning process,” The Daily Times quoted Snelsire, as saying. (ANI)