New Delhi: India's foreign minister says it is unacceptable that the country's ambassador to the United States was patted down by a security agent at an airport in Mississippi.

The ambassador, Meera Shankar, had been wearing a sari as she returned from giving a speech at Mississippi State University last week. She was pulled out of line at the airport and given a pat down by a female agent.

India Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said Thursday that this was the second time the ambassador had been treated this way in three months and that he would take up the issue with the US government.

"Let me be very frank that this is unacceptable to India," he said.