Sharukh, Abdul Kalam, Mamooty,Imran Khan and even Kamal Hasan (2002) have something in common. They were all detained in US immigration authorities in US. All of them are Muslim or have name similar to a Muslim name. Many other famous and not-so-famous Indians have been subjected to such harassment by the US authorities in the past. This racial profiling of people and their detention under suspicion that they are terrorists is not a fair practice.
One can understand the tight security drill followed by the US after the 9/11 attacks. No one objects to security checks but at the same time, they should be careful in detaining people and should allow people to prove themselves. It is not the right way to screen the suspected terrorists.
At the same time, I admire their system and work culture. In the US, if a junior officer is following the rulebook, nobody can do anything about it. In India, the powerful and famous are used to making calls to their ‘contacts’ in right places and getting away from difficult situations, but things don’t work like that in the US. I wish we too had such a security system in place.
