‘Take care of own country’: Naseeruddin Shah slams Imran Khan on minorities remark

Mumbai, Dec 23: Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, who has been at the receiving end of flak for his remark on Bulandshahr violence, has responded to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's latest statement that he will show the Modi government how to treat minorities.

"I think Mr Khan should be walking the talk in his own country instead of commenting on issues that don't concern him. We have been a democracy for 70 years and we know how to look after ourselves," Naseeruddin Shah told the Sunday Express.

On Saturday, Imran Khan, in an event in Lahore, had compared Naseeruddin Shah's remarks on mob lynching to what Mohammad Ali Jinnah had once that he doesn't want to live in an India where Muslims would not be equal citizens.

Khan had said, "We will show the Modi government how to treat minorities... Even in India, people are saying that minorities are not being treated as equal citizens," he said referring to Shah's statement, while emphasising that his government will ensure that the minorities feel safe, protected and have equal rights in 'New Pakistan'. Khan said this while addressing an event to highlight the 100-day achievements of the Punjab government in Lahore.

In a video interview with Karwan-e-Mohabbat India, Naseeruddin Shah had said that the death of a cow was being given importance over killing of a policeman in India. He said the "poison has already spread" and it will now be difficult to contain it.

"It will be very difficult to capture this djinn back into the bottle again. There is complete impunity for those who take law into their own hands...I feel anxious for my children because tomorrow if a mob surrounds them and asks, 'Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?' they will have no answer. It worries me that I don't see the situation improving anytime soon," Shah added.

Shah's remarks landed him in controversy and evoked protests that led him to stay back from a three-day literature festival in Ajmer, which Shah was scheduled to inaugurate. He was also scheduled to launch his book at the opening session of the literature festival, but this event was cancelled too.