Sikhs ask Indian PM to raise Turban screening at Polish airports

London: United Sikhs and the Central Gurdwara London has called upon the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to raise with his Polish counterpart the problems faced by Sikhs, who are asked to remove their turbans at Polish airports, particularly since an EU regulation came into force in April.
“We are aware that you will be meeting a Polish trade delegation on the 7th September 2010, which will include the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk. We hope that you will be able to raise this critical concern with the Polish Government during the course of talks, given that the freedom of religion is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Poland has ratified.” said United Sikhs, a UN affiliated international advocacy organization and the Central Gurdwara, the oldest Gurdwara in the western hemisphere, in a letter faxed to Dr Manmohan Singh.
In October 2009, a UK national, Narinder Singh, contacted UNITED SIKHS after he was stopped by members of the security team at the Frederick Chopin Airport of Warsaw, Poland, who forced him to remove his turban in full view of the public. He faced this humiliation even though he had passed through necessary security checks without setting off metallic scanners or raising an alarm when his belongings were screened by X-Ray machines.
Then, in December 2009, we received a similar complaint from another UK national, Shaminder Singh, who was made to remove his Turban despite having an ad hoc agreement in place with the Polish Border Guard. He offered to have his Turban patted down, which in itself is extremely insulting, or have it scanned using a handheld scanner but both his suggestions were rebuffed.
07/09/10 Punjab Newsline

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Categories: airports Sep 2010, Foreign Sep 2010, Safety Sep 2010