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An apologetic US administration on Sunday asked actor Shahrukh Khan if he would accept a "sorry" for his two-hour detention at Newark airport. Shahrukh is unrelenting. "I don’t want an apology. I just want to go back to my country," he told TOI.
Within hours of his detention after his name flashed on the immigration officer's computer screen for a check, US authorities made a turn-around, saying the superstar was not detained because of his surname but his missing baggage.
Shahrukh said, "There were 20 other people in the same (detention) room. Was even their baggage missing? I was clearly told that my name flashed on their computer and therefore they had to question me."
He agreed that procedure had to be followed, "but the system is a very unfortunate one". "When you have issued me a visa and imprints of my fingers and my photograph are on it, I am sure it is there in your system. Why do I have go through the ordeal?"
The actor, who was never allowed to take his personal bodyguard to the US with him for lack of a work permit, often finds it difficult to move around in public places.
"I have a problem with my shoulder (he had a surgery on his shoulder) and if my bodyguard is around he becomes a great help. Unfortunately he does not get a visa. I could easily take him there on a tourist visa, but I don't believe in breaking the rules."
Shahrukh said he had been uncomfortable going to America after facing "problems" in the past. "Post-9/11, one could understand and one did not complain. But this time it was a bit too much. I have travelled to other countries. I never faced any problem in the UK where I am treated like a state guest. They escort me to the car.
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