According to The Telegraph, the Californian governor has offered to meet Khan in Washington next month in a bid to de fuse the diplomatic row. Khan has not announced whether he will accept the invitation.
Khan, 43, recently signed a £125-million (R1.6-billion) deal with Fox-Searchlight Pictures in the US to distribute his latest movie, My Name is Khan, which highlights racial tensions in the US after the 9/11 terror attacks.
The star was detained for almost two hours at Newark Airport in New Jersey last week.
South African academic and political analyst Adam Habib endured a similar experience two years ago when he was denied entry into the country on suspicion of being a terrorist.
"This does not surprise me, and it is certainly not the first time Indian and Muslim citizens have been treated like this in the US. It is a trend which was unleashed by the Bush administration, which in effect has become a racial agenda," said Habib.
He said it was a tragedy that this kind of racial profiling took place in a country that described itself as a democracy.
" It seems that unless there is a formal intervention to root out what has essentially become a form of racism, it will continue to manifest itself in the US."
Meanwhile, local Muslim leaders referred to the Khan incident as another example of "Islamophobia".
The president of the Muslim Judicial Council , Moulana Igshaan Hendricks, said he had noted an increasing number of locals who had returned from the US feeling "insulted and belittled".
"The truth is whether it is film stars, academics or religious leaders, we, unfortunately, all have to bear the brunt of the American approach, particularly if you are Muslim," he said.
Meanwhile, the Times of India reports that Bollywood will pay tribute to the late King of Pop in a video that will be screened on Michael Jackson's birthday on August 29.
The video, which was promoted by Khan, is titled We Lived in his World.Source: The Times
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment