The Indian-American Muslim community on Tuesday said the detention of Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan at the Newark airport last week demonstrates the deficiencies and arbitrariness of racial profiling in the US.
"Frisking of India's former President APJ Abdul Kalam that happened in the recent past highlights the arbitrariness in profiling as it even failed to consider the importance of the office of Presidency. Detention of Shahrukh Khan, an icon of Bollywood, is just another example of failure of the system," said Rasheed Ahmed, president of Indian Muslim Council-USA.
In a statement, Ahmed urged all civil societies to shun racial profiling and redefine controls in necessary security programmes to be fair and unbiased to all regardless of their religion, cast, creed and colour.
"Profiling, often based on grounds of religion and ethnicity, is ineffective and results in undue detention of innocent people," Ahmed added.