Sikhs Seek Assurance from Indian PM that he would Raise Turban Issue with French President

Sikhs Will Persist to Keep The French Turban Ban Issue Alive Until it is Resolved

New Delhi, 25th January 2008 –UNITED SIKHS, a United Nations affiliated international advocacy NGO and other Sikh organizations request the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to publicly state if he will discuss the Sikh Turban issue in France with French President Nicholas Sarkozy during the latter’s visit to India, which starts today.

In the last week, UNITED SIKHS and Sikhs organizations globally have requested a meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh to request that he raise the French ban on the Sikh Turban issue with Mr Sarkozy. We have also written to the Chairperson of the UPA, Sonia Gandhi and the Indian External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, seeking an assurance that the issue will be on the top of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s agenda with Mr Sarkozy.

“No Sikh organization has been granted a meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh or the External Affairs Minister, but we will persist in our request for a meeting so that we are able to effectively apprise him of the issues,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS director who is leading the legal challenge to the French ban on the Sikh Turban in schools and on ID document photos.

“We are concerned that the details of the problems faced by French Sikhs and the legal arguments that have been presented in the French and in the International courts are not known to Dr. Manmohan Singh,” she told a press conference at the Meridien Hotel in Delhi today.

“We understand that Dr. Manmohan Singh may be preoccupied presently, but we hope that he will grant us a meeting by next week,” said Daljeet Singh, chairman of the Dharam Parchar Committee of DSGMC.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Turban-wearing Sikh, cannot turn a blind eye to the injustice suffered by Sikhs in France, who have not been allowed to practice their faith freely, since a law was passed in 2004 that banned the wearing of the Sikh Turban in schools.

Since the law, France has also not issued passports, driving licence and residence cards to Sikhs who refuse to remove their turban for their ID photos,” said Gurdial Singh, an Indian national living in France, who has traveled to New Delhi to campaign for the Sikh Turban ban to be lifted in France.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Sikh who has never been seen without his Turban, is the best evidence France needs to be convinced that a Sikh is inseparable from his Turban,” said Manjeet Singh GK, president of Akali Dal (Panthik).

The French president has also been approached by UNITED SIKHS and other Sikhs organisations and individuals. On 16th January 2007, UNITED SIKHS director, Gurpreet Singh, and other members of a Sikh delegation presented a memorandum, addressed to Mr Sarkozy, to the French Ambassador in Delhi, Jerome Bonnafont. The ambassador informed the Sikh delegation that the French government takes a serious view of the concerns of the Sikhs and he will raise with Mr Sarkozy the issues raised in the memorandum.

The memorandum stated forcefully that the Sikh Turban is the most recognizable feature of a Sikh. Unlike other head coverings, it is an inextricable part of the Sikh identity and is worn by Sikhs at all times to cover their unshorn hair, a mandatory article of their faith. As a part of the core identity of a Sikh, this law essentially has the effect of banning the practice of the Sikh religion in France.

The meeting with the Ambassador was also attended by Paramjit Singh Sarna, President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Anoop Singh of the International Sikh Confederation and the Sikh Samaj Sudhar Committee, Advocate HS Phoolka, and Manjeet Singh GK of the Akali Dal (Panthik).

This memorandum has also been sent by Sikh organizations and individuals to French embassies around the world. Amongst Sikh organisations that submitted a memorandum to French embassies worldwide are:
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management (DSGMC), Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthik), Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi), Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), International Sikh Confederation, Sikh Samaj Sudhar Society, Dastaar Action Committee (France), Khalsa Action Committee, British Sikh Council UK, Sikh Forum Dharmik Ekta Mission, International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO).

To access slides, on French Sikh History and the sacrifices made by Turbaned Sikh soldiers during the World Wars, click https://www.unitedsikhs.org/rtt/pdf/French_Sikh_History_Presentation_Combined.pdf

To read a previous press release on the Right To Turban campaign please click https://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-24-01-2008-00.htm

Issued by:

Jaspreet Singh
Staff Attorney
International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy (ICHRA)
UNITED SIKHS
Tel: 91 9999 481 785
law@unitedsikhs.org