WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is banning carrying of laptops, iPads, cameras and other electronic goods larger than a cell phone in carry-on baggage for direct flights to the United States originating in ten Gulf/West Asia/North Africa airports. The ban is said to be temporary and all said items can be carried in checked in luggage.News of the ban emerged on Monday in statements from the Royal Jordanian Airlines and the official news agency of Saudi Arabia, whose airlines will be among those affected. The ban covers all direct flights to the US from Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul, Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates . The new rules will come into effect from March 21.US officials declined to comment on the reasons for the ban, but speculation was rampant about a possible terrorist modus operandi being under the lens. It was not clear why other airlines flying to U.S were exempt and why allowing the same items in checked baggage – less accessible in the cargo hold -- would not constitute as much of a danger.Flyers to the United States from India and the sub-continent will be affected because a large volume of this traffic has moved to using the Gulf route (via Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi) using Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad Airlines in preference to the European route (using BA via London, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, Air France via Paris etc.).In fact, the dispute between the Gulf airlines and European/American carriers has been simmering for several months now because the western cartel believes Gulf carriers are state-subsidized, which enables then to have absurdly low fares.US-India economy class flights cost as little as $ 800 (Rs 52,000 approx) even at 2-3 days advance purchase, cheaper than a coast-to-coast domestic flight price across America. Remarkably, it is also cheaper in dollar terms than fares 25 years ago.Some aviation boffins seem to believe the U.S strike goes beyond security concerns.“If this is true, the threat of attempts to disguise explosives within laptops and other large electronic devices carried through the last point of departure airports bound for the U.S is not new. What appears to be new is this latest overreaction,” BuzzFeed News quoted a former administration official familiar with aviation security procedures as saying. “It appears to be a Muslim ban by a thousand cuts,” he added.Most of the affected airlines are from countries that are U.S allies; Americans have trained airport personnel in these countries. Etihad Airlines in fact conducts U.S immigration and customs processing in Abu Dhabi so that passengers can disembark in the domestic terminals at the arriving end with no exit scrutiny.