Sarkozy Speaks On Dastaar Ban

[paman]

MARSEILLES: Insisting that France is not discriminating against Sikhs wearing turbans, President Nicholas Sarkozy on Monday said that he expects t

he community to respect the customs and traditions of the French people.

"We respect their traditions and customs and I hope they also respect France's rules," Sarkozy said in a joint interaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also belongs to the Sikh community, after the India-EU summit.

"We respect Sikhs, their customs, their traditions. They are most welcome to France. But we have rules concerning the neutrality of the civil servants, rules concerning secularism and these rules don't apply to just Sikhs, they apply to the Muslims, they apply to all on the territory of the French Republic." Sarkozy said.

France in 2004 had imposed a ban under which Sikh students were prohibited from wearing turbans to schools, a decision that has incurred world-wide protests from the community.

UNITED SIKHS has an update on the campaign to allow Sikhs to wear dastaar

Right To Turban

http://www.unitedsikhs.org/rtt/

[cool water]

Whats changed? that policy was implemented back in 2004 i think effecting sikh kids. It's not ban on turban outside the educational system.

France is a athiest state so called secular state. But i think they, the french govt, had no choice to ban other religious garbs in classrooms if they didnt want islamic fundamtalists accuse them of double standards. The muslim parents were increasingly making their girls wear hijabs in france, which was growing trend and threatens to segregate muslims from non-muslims. Either way france will lose out in the long term to islamization because of french based muslim immigrant communities have more babies per household than more prosperous athiest white french men and women.They are scared to tackle political islam so dance around the issue by banning all religious garbs from educational institutions, when the problem lies with only islam and its political agenda.

[Into the Light]

whats important is to establish what Manmohan Singh said or rather did not say when Sarkozy said all this?

[paman]

your wish is my command...

Sarkozy has an "open mind" on turban issue: Manmohan

On Board PM's Special Aircraft (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said French President Nikolas Sarkozy had an "open mind" in dealing with the controversy over the turban issue in France that has unleashed protests in the Sikh community.

Singh said he had raised the turban issue again with Sarkozy during summit talks in Paris on Tuesday.

"He(Sarkozy) said we have an open mind and we will look at it. He said he had an open mind in the light of what I had said. He said he will have a relook it," said the prime minister while mentioning he had raised the sensitive issue before too when Sarkozy came on a visit to New Delhi in January this year.

The prime minister he told Sarkozy that the turban was a very essential part of the Sikh way of life because the members of the community are not allowed to cut their hair. The President was told that turban is one way that enables them to keep their hair bridled, he said.

"There are problems in France, when Sikh children go to school they are discouraged from wearing their turbans. And when seeking identity cards they are asked to remove their turbans. These are some inconveniences that Sikhs face," the prime minister told reporters.

Sarkozy at a joint news conference with Singh after the ninth Indo-EU summit in Marseilles in France on Monday said Sikhs are not specially targetted and the turban rules applied to other minority communities as well in France.

Sarkozy at the same time said minority communities must respect rules that need to be followed in France.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200810011323.htm

[lsingh]

your wish is my command...

Sarkozy has an "open mind" on turban issue: Manmohan

On Board PM's Special Aircraft (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said French President Nikolas Sarkozy had an "open mind" in dealing with the controversy over the turban issue in France that has unleashed protests in the Sikh community.

Singh said he had raised the turban issue again with Sarkozy during summit talks in Paris on Tuesday.

"He(Sarkozy) said we have an open mind and we will look at it. He said he had an open mind in the light of what I had said. He said he will have a relook it," said the prime minister while mentioning he had raised the sensitive issue before too when Sarkozy came on a visit to New Delhi in January this year.

The prime minister he told Sarkozy that the turban was a very essential part of the Sikh way of life because the members of the community are not allowed to cut their hair. The President was told that turban is one way that enables them to keep their hair bridled, he said.

"There are problems in France, when Sikh children go to school they are discouraged from wearing their turbans. And when seeking identity cards they are asked to remove their turbans. These are some inconveniences that Sikhs face," the prime minister told reporters.

Sarkozy at a joint news conference with Singh after the ninth Indo-EU summit in Marseilles in France on Monday said Sikhs are not specially targetted and the turban rules applied to other minority communities as well in France.

Sarkozy at the same time said minority communities must respect rules that need to be followed in France.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200810011323.htm

If India is really concerned about the turban , Manmohan Singh only had to say that he was reconsidering the Billion dollar order for aircraft and nuclear technology. France would introduce immediately an amendment to the law or create some face saving way to accomadate Sikh turbans.

Probably raised as light remark and even that was after France raised the issue of the pesecution of Christians in India.

[buddasingh]

I guess that proud country will be rejecting some of its own national holidays which are fare less than secular in origin.

Someone in that country needs to pick up a book and read about sikhi to understand that sikhi is anti-religion as much as it is religion.

What a pathetic excuse for government in that country.

[jagsinrags]

I have a feeling that Manmohan Singh Ji raised this issue with french president because its election time back in India and congress wants draw some Sikh votes from panjab.