French Sikh leaders flay French Govt’s ‘discrimina

[Deep Singh]

French Sikh leaders flay French Govt’s ‘discrimination’

J.S. Malhotra

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041210/jplus.htm#4

“Turban” — a symbol of` Sikh — has generated a lot of heat in India and abroad in the recent past, following the decision of the French Government to ban wearing of turban by school students there.

Mr Pal Singh, who happens to be one of the first “turbaned” Sikhs to get a permanent residency in France way back in 1984, in an interview with Jalandhar Plus, says, “In France, there is a law that anyone who is to be photographed for the issuance of national identity (ID) card and passport, should be ‘Tete Nue’ — with bare head. Since most of the Muslims and Jews do not usually wear any headgear, the Sikhs have to remove their turbans before getting themselves photographed. I fought against this unfair treatment for about 13 months. My efforts bore fruit. I was photographed with my turban on in 1984.” Mr Pal Singh, who is in city these days, first emigrated to Germany in 1978 from Dhande village of Shahkot in Jalandhar.

Elaborating on problems being faced by the Sikhs in France, he claims that the government spared no effort to foil their plan to construct a gurdwara in Paris. “We proposed to purchase land for constructing gurdwaras in three main areas of Paris — Montreal, Bagnlot and Bobigny - during 1986 to 1989. But every time, the then-Mayor of Paris, using the power vested in him, refused to grant permission on one pretext or the other. Finally, we bought a house and converted it to a gurdwara.

According to Mr Singh, in the latest salvo against the

Sikhs, the Ministry of Inteir (Internal Ministry), had issued a secret circular to the government departments on March 17, 2004, clearly mentioning that immigrants should be photographed “sans turban” — without turban. “This is the first time that the word ‘turban’has been used instead of ‘bare head’.”