Bollywood star dragged into diplomatic row

Published on 31/01/2013 01:11

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has been caught in a verbal row between India and Pakistan after he wrote a magazine article that led to heated exchanges between the nations.

The controversy erupted after Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, suggested that New Delhi beef up the actor’s security after he wrote an account of how it felt to be a Muslim in India.

In the article, Khan wrote that sometimes he became “the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India”.

New Delhi yesterday reacted sharply to Mr Malik’s comments with politicians and officials 
suggesting he should concentrate on the security of Pakistani citizens.

India’s home secretary, RK Singh said it was capable of looking after its citizens. “Let him [Mr Malik] worry about the security of his country’s security,” he said.

Khan responded to the exchange by saying he was extremely safe and happy in India. He said it was “irksome for me to clarify this non-existent issue”.

The 47-year-old actor, who is popularly known as “King Khan” in the Indian film industry, said the article did not “even vaguely say that I am ungrateful for the love I have received in a career spanning 20 years”.