Indian-American Muslims ask societies to shun racial profiling

Washington, Aug 18 (PTI) The Indian-American Muslim
community 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. PTI