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India takes up turban ban with France |
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With the French school year due to start in September, India has urged France to reconsider its ban on the display of religious symbols by students including the turban that Sikh pupils in that country, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, wear. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the question of the ban was raised by the National Security Adviser, J.N. Dixit, at the highest levels of the French Government during his visit to Paris on August 23-24. An assurance was conveyed to Dixit that the matter would be sorted out in a manner responsive to the sensitivities of the Sikh community, the PMO said.
In February this year, Dominique de Villepin, the then Foreign Minister of France, gave a similar assurance to the Vajpayee Government during his visit to New Delhi. However, French officials say it will be difficult to relax the rule mandated by the country’s tough security law for Sikh students without inviting similar demands from Muslim and Jewish pupils who will be prohibited from wearing the hijab and skull camps from September onwards.
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