A delegation of senior Pakistani military officials visiting the US was deboarded from a plane, detained, "interrogated and rudely treated" by security officials after one of them made a comment to a flight attendant, prompting the team to head home in protest.
The nine-member delegation of high-ranking Pakistani officers boarded United Airlines Flight 727 from the Dulles International Airport in Washington to Tampa on Tuesday, but were pulled off the plane, Mike Trevino, spokesman for the Airlines, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
He said they were deboarded from the plane after one of them "made a comment to a flight attendant."
The delegation was to travel to Tampa, a Gulf Coast Bay city in the state of Florida, to attend the annual conference of the US-Pakistan Military Consultative Committee.
Though the spokesman refused to provide details, Pakistani officials said the remark came from a General in the delegation.
The General, weary of a long day of travel that began in Islamabad, said: "I hope this is my last flight," or words to that effect.
That sparked a call to Dulles law enforcement officials, who "detained the delegation for two-and-a-half hours and refused to allow the officials to contact their embassy or the US military officials who had invited them to visit," the Post