Dilip Kumar is an icon for India, Pakistan: Kasuri

Noted Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah on Wednesday kicked up controversy, saying he was being targeted for being a Muslim.

Former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on Tuesday described veteran actor Dilip Kumar as an icon for both India and Pakistan.

Talking to the media persons outside Parliament House, he said the Shiv Sena attitude has aggrieved the entire humanity and notice has been taken of this act.

“If I say that Imran Khan is a great cricketer, does that imply that Sunil Gavaskar is not?”

The actor in an interview to TV news channel India Today on Wednesday, October 14 said he was being targeted for his statement only because he is a Muslim and he has never ever been aware of his identity until now.

After a hectic day of back-to-back engagements, Kasuri said India’s insistence that Pakistan is to be blamed for everything that is going wrong between the two countries is proving to be counter-productive and snuffing out any opportunity for a rapprochement.

When asked about his view on writers returning their awards protesting against what they believe was a climate of rising intolerance in India under the present government, Shah said, “I wish that the protest had been made through their work”.

“I don’t understand why I am being picked on”.

In her letter, Ms Sahgal has condemned Prime Minister Modi for remaining silent about the “reign of terror” that has been unleashed in India and offered her support to “all dissenters who now live in fear and uncertainty”. “I am proud to be an Indian and I will not allow anybody to question my patriotism”, added Shah. “Kumar’s wife Saira Banu told me that Dilip Saahab had been twice on secret missions to Pakistan”. It was the heart of Punjab which was severed into two. He is one guy who can bring India and Pakistan together.