San Francisco, Oct. 28, 2005
Amritpal
NRI , various Sikh groups in the world had been submitted
memorandums to the French ambassadors in different
part of the world but the issus was not resolved.
Now US NRI sikhs in the field for protests
Read More:
French ban on religious garb in schools prompts
protest
California, Oct. 28, 2005
Mercury News,
By David L. Beck
The case of three turban-wearing teenagers expelled
from high school in the Paris suburb of Bobigny last
year brought Bay Area Sikhs out in protest Thursday
at the French consulate in San Francisco.
``I'm here to protect my right to wear a turban not
only in France, but everywhere in the world,'' said
Kulwant Singh, a 37-year-old convenience store owner
from San Mateo. ``It's not only cultural, it's religious:
part of our body.''
The three were expelled in December under France's
controversial ban on the wearing of conspicuous religious
symbols in public primary and secondary schools. The
law was seen as primarily targeting Muslim schoolgirls
wearing head scarves, although it also applies to
large crosses and other religious symbols.
``Items of clothing such as bandannas and turbans
can be allowed in schools if such items are worn as
fashion accessories without religious significance,''
noted the U.S. State Department in the French section
of its religious freedom report for 2004.
To Sikhs, that's absurd.
``We're supposed to -- by religion -- have our head
covered,'' said Ravi Singh, 22, of San Jose, a student
at the University of San Francisco. The turban is
a symbolic crown, he said: ``Not in the sense of ruling
people, but of ruling your mind. And also, it's our
identity, and that's important.''
Said Kulwant Singh: ``I cannot imagine myself going
out without a turban from my house.''
More than 100 Sikhs, mostly from Fremont and San
Jose, turned out for Thursday's polite protest. Police
erected temporary barriers in front of the consulate,
and the Sikhs faced the traffic streaming down Bush
Street. Some drivers honked in support.
Many Sikhs carried carefully printed signs: ``France:
Take Back Law Against Turban.'' ``France Is In Violation
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.''
And many spoke of the Sikh contribution to French
liberty, passing out photocopies of a World War I
postcard showing turbaned troops marching ``to chasten
German hooligans.'' The Indian dead and missing in
Europe during that war numbered nearly 50,000.
On Bush Street on Thursday, there were old men with
long, gray beards, younger men with dark beards and
even a few teens with minimal beards. There were a
handful of older women, wearing head scarves. One
younger woman, a banker in a pink suit, bone-colored
heels and a white turban, passed out bottled water.
(Women may but are not required to wear the turban.
The banker said she found it more appropriate in a
corporate setting than a head scarf.)
In the third-floor consulate offices, Deputy Consul
Olivier Arribe greeted a reporter politely but warily.
``We don't know what this is about,'' he said. He
agreed to meet with three Sikhs, including the organizer
of the protest, Ram Singh of San Jose.
``He was very kind and very friendly,'' Ram Singh
reported later. ``He said, `Our relations with the
Sikhs historically have been very good.' He said he
was once posted in India. He looks forward to speaking
to his government'' and asked for details about the
three Bobigny teens.
``I said, `Maybe your intentions were good, but consequences
are bad.' ''
Mejindairpal Kaur, a lawyer for the United Sikhs
in New Jersey, said the teens' case had moved to the
Council of State, France's highest court, though she
could not say when the court would take it up. The
goal, she said, is ``a finding of law as to legality.
We don't use the word `exemption.' We say the law
doesn't apply to us.''
The San Francisco protest, although thousands of
miles away, can have an effect, said Gurmeet Singh,
president of the Fremont gurdwara, or house of God.
``After all,'' he said, ``France is a very civilized
country. If the whole world raises voice, yes, it
will listen.''
