* Former cricket star is critical of U.S. drone strikes
* Vows to continue oppose attacks by unmanned planes
NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Pakistani politician Imran
Kahn, a vocal critic of U.S. drone strikes, was briefly delayed
and questioned by U.S. immigration officials in Toronto before
being allowed to board a flight to New York, prompting his party
to demand an apology from Washington.
Khan told his followers on Twitter that he was detained and
interrogated Friday about his views on drones.
A State Department official confirmed Khan had been briefly
detained, but said the former Pakistani cricket star was later
released to go the United States. "The issue was resolved and
Mr. Khan is welcome in the United States," the official said.
Ali Zaidi, senior vice president of Khan's Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf party, demanded an apology from U.S. authorities
for their two-hour questioning of Khan and his traveling
companions, as well as a thorough investigation.
The State Department gave no details about why Khan was
detained. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it
was prohibited from discussing specific cases.
Khan, who led a protest march to northern Pakistan this
month to protest U.S. drone strikes, vowed to continue opposing
the deadly attacks. "Nothing will change my stance," he said.
"I was taken off from plane and interrogated by U.S.
Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known.
Drone attacks must stop," Khan tweeted on Friday afternoon.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said the politician
arrived safely in New York on Friday, the first day of the
Muslim Eid-al-Adha holiday, after the delay at the Toronto
airport and went directly to a fundraising lunch.
Zaidi, of the party, said the incident violated ethical and
diplomatic norms and the Pakistani government should complain to
the U.S. embassy in Islamabad.
Calling Khan "a celebrated national hero" and a "global icon
of colossal stature," Zaidi wrote on the party's website that to
"subject him to such clumsy and vicious treatment speaks volumes
about the exasperation induced in the American ranks by his
heroic and patriotic-minded opposition to the drone program."
In an email, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency
declined to comment on the case, but said travelers who wanted
to enter the United States bore the burden of proof to establish
that they were eligible for admission, and that included
overcoming "ALL grounds of inadmissibility."
Pakistani authorities earlier this month stopped a protest
led by Khan from entering the troubled region of South
Waziristan, a tribal area frequently hit by drone strikes.
Khan blames the Pakistan government for allowing the United
States to operate in the country, and has said he will order the
Pakistani air force to shoot the unmanned planes down if he wins
next year's elections in Pakistan.
Earlier this month, Khan led a march to northern Pakistan to
protest the drone strikes, which have killed between 2,600 and
3,400 Pakistanis, according to the independent London-based
Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Some Pakistanis say Khan is fanning anti-American sentiment
to bolster his political career and criticize him for refusing
to condemn atrocities by the Taliban or Pakistani army.
Others praise him for reaching out to Pakistan's northern
tribal areas and say he is standing up for a war-ravaged
population ignored by mainstream politicians.
The United States says the strikes have killed top Taliban
and al Qaeda commanders and that civilian casualties are
minimal. But it has not said how targets are selected or how the
military determines whether the dead were fighters or civilians.
