Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was at the centre of the latest round of sparring between two often uneasy neighbours on Tuesday with Pakistan’s minister Rehman Malik’s comment that India should provide the actor security prompting a sharp rebuke from New Delhi that Islamabad should mind its own ‘minorities’.
Malik said in Islamabad that the Indian government should provide security to Shah Rukh, in the thick of a controversy over his remarks on being a Muslim that led to Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed saying the star could move to Pakistan.
Addressing reporters in Islamabad at a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner, Malik added that people of both Pakistan and India love Shah Rukh, reported Geo TV on Tuesday.
India was quick to react. Soon after Malik’s remarks were reported in the media, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and Home Secretary RK Singh said Pakistan should worry about the state of affairs in its own country. Both Tewari and Singh spoke in near identical terms to decry Malik’s statement.
‘Instead of introspection of how minorities in India are being treated he (Malik) should contemplate how he can improve condition of minority in his country,’ Tewari told reporters.
He said it would be better for Pakistan if Malik paid attention to domestic matters of his own country rather than worrying about such things.
‘Test of democracy is the way you treat your minority rather than majority. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has strived to see every citizen in the same light and given equal right under the constitution,’ he said. The home secretary spoke out too.
‘We are quite capable of looking after security of our own citizens... let him (Malik) worry about security of his own,’ he said.
The BJP, on its part, said Pakistan must stay away from meddling in India’s internal affairs. Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Khan said India should send a stern message to Islamabad. BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Pakistan should worry about the security of its own minorities. ‘We are a secular country,’ he said.
Later on Tuesday evening, Shah Rukh addressed the media. ‘I am untouched by skepticism because of the love I have received by my countrymen and women. I would like to tell all those who are offering me unsolicited advice that we in India are extremely safe and happy. We have an amazing democratic, free and secular way of life,’ he said.