Shah Rukh Khan security row: ‘Let India worry about its own security concerns’
R K Singh advises Pakistan’s interior minister to focus on improving conditions of his country’s minorities.
Home Secretary R K Singh advises Pakistan’s interior minister to focus on improving conditions of his country’s minorities.
NEW DELHI:
Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s comments that India should provide movie star Shah Rukh Khan security did not go down well with New Delhi, with Indian Home Secretary R K Singh advising Malik to let India mind its own business where the security of its citizens was concerned.
“We are quite capable of looking after the security of our own citizens, let him worry about the security of his country’s citizens,” Singh told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“He [Shah Rukh Khan] is a born Indian and he would like to remain Indian, but I will request the government of India [to] please provide him security. I would like to request all Indian brothers and sisters and all those who are talking in a negative way about Shah Rukh that they should know he is a movie star,” Malik had said on Monday.
The rebuke was sharp and quick, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari telling Islamabad it should mind its own “minorities”.
“Instead of introspection of how minorities in India are being treated, he [Malik] should contemplate how he can improve the condition of minorities in his [own] country,” Tewari said.
In an interview, the Bollywood superstar had written in Outlook Turning Points magazine that he has sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make him a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India.
However, Shah Rukh on Tuesday said that the controversy surrounding his article was nonsensical and urged people to read it before making any comment, according to The Hindustan Times.
“Being an Indian is an unconditional truth of my life,” he said during a press conference in Mumbai. “Nowhere does the article state or imply directly or indirectly that I feel unsafe....troubled or disturbed in India.” He also urged everyone to read the article and claimed that he never said he felt insecure in India.
No alternative to building trust: trade minister
In a trade-level meeting between the nuclear-armed rivals that Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim could not attend, Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma said there was no alternative to building trust and confidence in relations, especially in the economic and trade sectors.
“India is of this considered view that there is no alternative way other than building an atmosphere of confidence and trust [to strengthen ties between India and Pakistan] ... And for that the only way is the economic partnership,” Sharma said at a global partnership summit hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry, a lobbying body for industry on Monday.
After permitting Foreign Direct Investment from Pakistan, he said India was in the process of allowing its banks to open branches in Pakistan.
Sharma asked the Pakistani delegation attending the session to request Islamabad to make progress on this. “I know we have friends from Pakistan in the audience here. Please go back and remind them [the government] what we discussed last February, where we are and not to allow anything which actually holds this region back,” Sharma added. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM THE HINDUSTAN TIMES)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2013.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s comments that India should provide movie star Shah Rukh Khan security did not go down well with New Delhi, with Indian Home Secretary R K Singh advising Malik to let India mind its own business where the security of its citizens was concerned.
“We are quite capable of looking after the security of our own citizens, let him worry about the security of his country’s citizens,” Singh told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“He [Shah Rukh Khan] is a born Indian and he would like to remain Indian, but I will request the government of India [to] please provide him security. I would like to request all Indian brothers and sisters and all those who are talking in a negative way about Shah Rukh that they should know he is a movie star,” Malik had said on Monday.
The rebuke was sharp and quick, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari telling Islamabad it should mind its own “minorities”.
“Instead of introspection of how minorities in India are being treated, he [Malik] should contemplate how he can improve the condition of minorities in his [own] country,” Tewari said.
In an interview, the Bollywood superstar had written in Outlook Turning Points magazine that he has sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make him a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India.
However, Shah Rukh on Tuesday said that the controversy surrounding his article was nonsensical and urged people to read it before making any comment, according to The Hindustan Times.
“Being an Indian is an unconditional truth of my life,” he said during a press conference in Mumbai. “Nowhere does the article state or imply directly or indirectly that I feel unsafe....troubled or disturbed in India.” He also urged everyone to read the article and claimed that he never said he felt insecure in India.
No alternative to building trust: trade minister
In a trade-level meeting between the nuclear-armed rivals that Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim could not attend, Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma said there was no alternative to building trust and confidence in relations, especially in the economic and trade sectors.
“India is of this considered view that there is no alternative way other than building an atmosphere of confidence and trust [to strengthen ties between India and Pakistan] ... And for that the only way is the economic partnership,” Sharma said at a global partnership summit hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry, a lobbying body for industry on Monday.
After permitting Foreign Direct Investment from Pakistan, he said India was in the process of allowing its banks to open branches in Pakistan.
Sharma asked the Pakistani delegation attending the session to request Islamabad to make progress on this. “I know we have friends from Pakistan in the audience here. Please go back and remind them [the government] what we discussed last February, where we are and not to allow anything which actually holds this region back,” Sharma added. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM THE HINDUSTAN TIMES)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2013.