A Delhi customs officer checks the bags of journalist Yana Mir
A journalist from Jammu and Kashmir who alleged immigration officers in Delhi were "rude" to her is seen in CCTV footage not cooperating when the officers requested to get her bags scanned, the Delhi customs said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Yana Mir, whose speech in the UK parliament about how she is not a "Malala Yousafzai" because she is "free and safe" in India, on arriving at Delhi airport posted on X that the Delhi customs thinks of her as a "brand smuggler", after her bags were opened and checked.
"What I said in London about India: I am free and safe in India. How I was welcomed back to India? 'Madam scan your bag, open your bag, why you have Louis Vuitton shopping bags? Did you pay for them? Where are the bills?' What Londoners think of me - Indian media warrior. What Delhi customs thinks of me: brand smuggler," Ms Mir said in the social media post.
Taking strong exception to Ms Mir's post, the Delhi customs said she felt "needlessly offended" while the staff remained "courteous". The customs department also posted CCTV footage showing how baggage of international passengers are scanned routinely.
"Ms Yana Mir didn't cooperate at all when requested to get her bags scanned. Her luggage was ultimately picked up by airline staff and Customs officer for scanning as seen in the footage," the customs department said in the post.
"Bag scanning of international passengers is done routinely. While other passengers put their luggage inside the scanner without any fuss, Ms Yana Mir felt needlessly offended. The staff remained courteous throughout. Privileges are not above law. Footage tells the story," it said.
Ms Mir refuted the allegations of seeking special treatment at the airport. "I don't want special treatment. But harassing citizens like this is dictatorial. They need to be polite and ask if anything to declare, if very suspicious even after scanning then they should be courteous, to open the bag in a closed area, not openly like this," she posted in a reply to a comment on X.
In her statement at the 'Sankalp Divas' hosted by the UK parliament in London, Ms Mir had asked the international media to "stop dividing" the people of Jammu and Kashmir. She had denounced the propaganda mechanism by Pakistan to "dent India's image on the international stage".
"I am not a Malala Yousafzai because I am free and safe in my country, India. In my homeland, Kashmir, which is a part of India. I will never need to run and seek refuge in your country. I will never be a Malala Yousafzai, but I object to Malala for defaming my country, my progressive homeland, by calling it oppressed," the Kashmiri journalist said in her parliament speech.
"I object to all such toolkit members from social media and international media, who have never cared to visit Kashmir, but fabricate stories of oppression from there," Ms Mir said in the UK parliament.