| Iqbal Khan |
'For the first time I felt isolated and humiliated'
Now, Iqbal Khan wonders whether he will be able to go abroad for his honeymoon
Subhash K Jha
Actor Iqbal Khan suffered humiliation when his request for a US visa was turned down. The actor was applying for a visa to attend a celebrity event in the US and Canada between September 20 and October 2.
"Why me? I've been asking myself this continuously. There were fourteen of us from the television industry. A majority were women including Kanchi Kaul and Sakshi Tanwar. I was the first one to reach the embassy early in the morning. I was the only Muslim. I was the only one denied a visa – only because my name is Mohammed Iqbal Khan," says Iqbal.
Iqbal tries hard to suppress his emotions. "The lady at the Embassy said there're three people (suspected terrorists) with that name and that they'd have to put me through a fingerprint-scan in Washington. She then took my fingerprint test. My hands were stained like any suspected criminal," he says.
Iqbal says this was the first time that he felt discriminated against as a Muslim. "The money that I was going to get for this event was supposed to pay for the house that I am buying for my fiance and me before our marriage. Now, I will not be able to afford it. It's not as if I'm an unknown person. In fact, when the lady at the embassy asked me if I was a known face I was too embarrassed to reveal my identity. Some Indians in the room told her who I was. I still had to go through the finger print test, and was treated like a suspect," says Iqbal.
He says this is his second experience at visa discrimination in two months. "Earlier I was denied a visa to the UK. But I didn't connect it with the terrorism situation. Now I recall that there were two Muslims in that team to UK and we were both denied visas," says Iqbal.
These incidents have affected Iqbal. "We're living in troubled times where anything can happen. Earlier I used to hear it was difficult for Gujaratis to get visas to the US. Now I wonder when I'd be allowed out of the country! I'm getting married in January. I had big plans for my fiance and was planning our honeymoon abroad. Now, I wonder whether we will be allowed to go?" he says.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=19&am p;sectname=Television&sess=1073334562
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