Deputy Spokesperson of the United States Embassy in India, Alexander McLaren on Thursday said Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was frisked at the US airport as he was on private visit.


McLaren said that if an individual is on a private visit, irrespective of whether he or she is a citizen or any head of the state, then he has to go through the same security procedure.


"If a head of state chooses to travel privately without diplomatic passport then they are travelling as a private citizen and they have to go through same security screening as you and I and everyone else has gone through," clarified McLaren.


He further said that if an individual was on an official visit, then "it would have been a different story."The Pakistan Prime Minister was frisked at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York during the security procedure.


A video of the incident showed Prime Minister Abbasi, who reportedly was on a private visit to meet his ailing sister in the US, adjusting his t-shirt after getting out of security checks with his jacket and a trolley bag. -- ANI