France Issue Updates

[V]

Agreed with Vicky bhaji @

i read somewhere thta Norway was also planning,...but then it was layed down

Sweden? nah No way..

Swedish people have some 'akul' :D ..or... :T: lately I've seen quite a lot of critique toi the hijab going on in the Newspapers

Man @

Vicky bhaji do u know if theres another demonstration occuring in france?

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/sig...ed.cgi?sikh5555

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/sig...ned.cgi?msa1987

a Few weeks ago the Muslim petition had like 2000 more signs

now only 50 :wub:

Bhull chukk maaf

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[Guest mehtab]

there is an ancient indian saying "binaas kaale bipreet budhee" meaning when one's end is near, the person's mind screws up...i see that happening :v :g

[Deep Singh]

well,

if we look at the amish they moved out of cities and build their own towns and villiages....what do you guys think?

own Sikh pind in north france..?

appnian faslan appna karo bar...no problem with that isn't

[SaadhRayn Kaur]

SIKH SCHOOLCHILDREN WILL NOT BE ASKED TO REMOVE THEIR TURBANS OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL GATES

New Delhi, February 11th, 2004

French Ambassador to India has reassured Sikhs that a Sikh child will not be made to remove his Turban outside the school gates when the law banning religious symbols is implemented in the new school year in September. “I am confident that had the Sikhs been consulted by the Stasi commission the Turban would not have been considered a religious symbol which falls under the remit of the law” Mr Girad Dominique told a Sikh delegation who met him in Delhi today.

“ The law will most certainly be passed but it will only be valid for a year as it will have to be reviewed by parliament again,” he said.

“France never knew so much about the Sikhs as they do now. I am confident that as we are a secular society, an accomodation will be found for Sikhs to practise their faith,” he said.

“ We have taken on board all the representations which have been made by Sikhs globally and we are aware that the Turban is essential to cover a Sikh’s unshorn hair,” he added. During the meeting, UNITED SIKHS director Jaspal Singh delivered to Mr Girard 100,000 online and handsigned signatures which were collected in the Panjab, Kanpur and Delhi areas for the Right To Turban petition, which was organised by UNITED SIKHS.

UNITED SIKHS, a human development organisation had launched the global petition campaign to appeal against the French government’s decision to ban religious symbols in public schools. Akal Purakh Ki Fauj’s Jaswinder Singh Advova

te, who is also a member of SGPC, the apex Sikh representative body in the Panjab, had joined UNITED SIKHS by collecting signatures in Panjab.

In a joint memorandum, the delegation said that the single message that has been conveyed in the signature campaign is that the Sikh Turban is a non-negotiable article of faith and identity for the Sikhs.

The French Ambassdor appreciated the views, the restraint and the clarity with which the memorandum and support documents had been presented. Mr Girard said that the law was not against any religion. “It was only by default, that the Sikh Turban has been brought under the remit of the law,” he said. He said that the French Government was committed to protect total religious freedom and to protect freedom of thought and religious practice.

Mr. Girard further appreciated that for the Sikhs, the Turban was an article of faith and has been caught in this cross debate. He also put forward his deep feelings, sympathy and his friendship for Sikhs and highlighted the deep and strong relationship between the Sikhs and the French, who in their evolution, had faced wars of religion and massacres, on account of such intolerances.

Mr. Girard was handed a CD with slide shows on “Sikhs In French History” an an Introduction to Sikhism” produced by UNITED SIKHS. The National Minority Commission chairman, Tirlochan Singh, is due to meet the French External Affairs Minister who arrived in Delhi today. “ I have forwarded a dossier from UNITED SIKHS to Mr Tirlochan Singh for the attention of the French External Affairs Minister,” Mr Jaspal Singh said.

The delegation which met the French Ambassador comprised Mr. Jaspal Singh , Director – UNITED SIKHS, Mr. Vikramjit Singh Sahney , International President – World Punjabi Organisation , Mr. Prehlad Singh Chandhok , President – Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee , Mr. H.S. Phoolka , Human Rights Lawyer , Lt. Gen. M.S. Bhullar , former QMG – Indian Army . “ The meeting with the ambassador wa

s very encouraging and succesful,” said Mr Vikramjit Singh Sahney.

For more information on the “Right to Turban” campaign, link to: http://www.unitedsikhs.org

[Deep Singh]

well done UNITED SIKHS!

B) however i wonder WHY Turban is not a religious symbol? isn't?

[japmans]

seems liek we've forgotten about this issue

i found an article today that has a pretty nice representation of Sikhs considering the length of the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3474673.stm

French MPs back headscarf ban

French MPs have voted by a massive majority to ban the Islamic headscarf and all other overt religious symbols from state schools. The bill was passed by 494 votes to 36. It now goes to the upper house, the Senate, for approval.

The wearing of Jewish skullcaps, large Christian crosses and probably Sikh turbans would also be banned.

About 70% of French people back the controversial law - and even 40% of Muslim women, according to some polls.

Most French MPs backed the bill on the grounds that it protected the secularity of the French state, by keeping religion out of the classroom.

'Intolerant'

The bill also has the guarded backing of one of the highest authorities in Sunni Islam - the Grand Sheikh of Egypt's al-Azhar mosque.

Speaking after meeting French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy in Cairo in December, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said Muslim women may ignore the obligation to wear a headscarf if the law where they lived demanded so.

But some French MPs, backed by Muslim leaders and rights groups, warn the proposed law could be seen as intolerant and undermine the integration of France's Muslims.

Already, the prospect of the new law has squandered much of the goodwill President Jacques Chirac built up in Muslim countries when he opposed the war in Iraq, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.

Saudi Arabia's top cleric has accused the proposed French law of violating the human rights it claims to be defending.

The Indian government has reportedly told France to handle the ban with "sensitivity" and the issue may well be raised during this week's visit by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

India is home to the Sikh faith, whose male followers are required to keep their long hair wrapped in a turban.

Protests

There have been protests against the law in India and amongst France's 7,000 strong Sikh community.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights has also warned the French government against the ban, as has US-based advisory group, the Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Some French MPs claim young Muslim women are being forced to wear the headscarf, though the few hundred who have turned out for demonstrations against the new law say they wear it of their own free will.

Unspoken in this entire debate is the government's need to boost its own popularity, and combat a rise in support for the far-right National Front, ahead of key regional elections next month, Caroline Wya