Amjad Ali Khan asks US to avoid `racial profiling` at airports

New York: Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, once detained and frisked at a US airport in what he believes was "racial profiling", has asked authorities to take steps like on the spot background check to avoid humiliation of visitors. "If they talk to a visitor looking into their eyes, these trained officers can find out if he or she is a terrorist. This would solve half of the problems but these officers talk to you looking at the computer monitors or go by the last names perfunctorily," Khan lamented. Khan, 67, was detained and frisked at the Philadelphia airport last year when he was about to board an aircraft to San Francisco as a visiting fellow of Stanford University in California. He said it seems American officials did not know what to do when they see a Muslim name pop up on their computer at the airport. "I had the same issue with immigration officials in the past on arrival thanks to my last name Khan. This is nothing but racial profiling. I am not carrying a suicide bomb or a security threat to any country," he said. "But it seems American officials did not know what to do when they see a Muslim name pop up on their computer at the airport. They want to check the whole body and frisk using some chemicals creating lot of tension." In an interview to PTI, Khan said anyone with a weak heart would have a heart attack after undergoing the humiliation at the hands of the officers. He suggested that US Immigration and Border Security and domestic Transportation Security Administration officials should be provided with Internet connectivity on their computers to help them do background search on visitors and travellers to the US on the spot rather than humiliating them by detaining at the ante-rooms. PTI