01-23-2004, 04:30 AM
<b>Sikh forced to remove turban</b>
London, Jan. 22: The protest over the proposed ban on religious headgear in France escalated as Sikhs here claimed a man was forced to remove his turban before entering a government building in Paris.
There is also growing confusion over the French law against the Muslim hijab and Jewish skullcap after the education minister hinted that bandanas and beards could also be banned and <b>Sikhs could wear hairnets instead of turbans</b>. Franceâs 7,000-strong Sikh community was told that its boys could keep their turbans provided that they were invisible. This was interpreted to mean hairnets and Sikhs say this is unacceptable.
The government had neglected to take account of the Sikhs when the law was prepared. But even before it is passed in Parliament, an incident involving 50-year-old Jagmohan Singh from a Paris suburb has further infuriated the Sikh community here. They had written to French President Jacques Chirac last week highlighting their concerns over such a ban.
French Sikhs appealed to the government again on Wednesday to rethink the ban on conspicuous headdress. âThe Sikhs of France want to draw your attention to the injustice which this law on secularity is going to create,â the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Association, the countryâs main Sikh body, said.
The French government, meanwhile, was struggling to disown the fresh remarks made to Parliament by education minister Luc Ferry as he tried to explain the logic behind the outlawing of conspicuously manifested religious symbols.
London, Jan. 22: The protest over the proposed ban on religious headgear in France escalated as Sikhs here claimed a man was forced to remove his turban before entering a government building in Paris.
There is also growing confusion over the French law against the Muslim hijab and Jewish skullcap after the education minister hinted that bandanas and beards could also be banned and <b>Sikhs could wear hairnets instead of turbans</b>. Franceâs 7,000-strong Sikh community was told that its boys could keep their turbans provided that they were invisible. This was interpreted to mean hairnets and Sikhs say this is unacceptable.
The government had neglected to take account of the Sikhs when the law was prepared. But even before it is passed in Parliament, an incident involving 50-year-old Jagmohan Singh from a Paris suburb has further infuriated the Sikh community here. They had written to French President Jacques Chirac last week highlighting their concerns over such a ban.
French Sikhs appealed to the government again on Wednesday to rethink the ban on conspicuous headdress. âThe Sikhs of France want to draw your attention to the injustice which this law on secularity is going to create,â the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Association, the countryâs main Sikh body, said.
The French government, meanwhile, was struggling to disown the fresh remarks made to Parliament by education minister Luc Ferry as he tried to explain the logic behind the outlawing of conspicuously manifested religious symbols.