Taking serious exception to recent instructions issued by the US’s federal transportation agency whereby all turban-wearing individuals, including Sikhs, will be subjected to a mandatory physical searching of their headgear during airport security checks, Punjab’s deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise the matter with US President Barack Obama.
Taking a cue from US-based groups including United Sikhs, the Sikh Coalition, and the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), which first objected to the new security regulations, Mr Badal called upon Dr Singh “who is himself a Sikh and understands the sensitivity of this whole issue and hurt caused by it on the psyche of Sikhs” to press the US President to order “an immediate withdrawal of the order.”
According to the TSA’s instructions on turbans, regardless of whether a Sikh clears the metal detector or the new AIT (advanced imaging technology or body scanners) machines, they will still have to go through an additional procedure in which their turban will be checked for non-metallic items. During this second screening procedure, a Sikh will have a choice of either: a pat-down of their turban by a TSA screener; patting down their own turban and having their hand swabbed for traces of chemical explosives; or requesting a private screening (in a room outside of public view) of their turban. Strongly opposing the policy UNITED SIKHS, Sikh Coalition, and SALDEF have said, “targeting turbans for additional scrutiny sends a message to other passengers that Sikhs and their articles of faith are to be viewed with suspicion by fellow travellers.
The policy is a serious infringement on our civil rights and liberties.”