Madrid airport officers reportedly requested a senior Sikh pilot to take away his turban regardless of steel detector clearance, frightening robust response from the Sikh neighborhood. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Administration Committee head spoke to RT.
I used to be attending a household perform once I acquired a name from Captain Simran Singh Gujral, an Air India official who sounded distressed.
He shared how he was being harassed at Madrid Airport, the place officers had been asking him to take away his turban; they had been manhandling him and disrespecting his non secular religion regardless of him passing the steel detector check. He sought my assist in that second.
It was 12:30am and I instantly tweeted concerning the state of affairs, in search of assist from the nation’s Exterior Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar Ji. A couple of minutes later, I acquired Captain Gujral’s message that he had been given the go-ahead on the airport however the expertise had already left its scars.
Had it been a stand-alone incident, I’d have forgotten about it. However such incidents occur so continuously in Europe and the US that I really feel like beginning a dialog round it.
Why are Sikhs handled in such a biased and racial method regardless of them being the leaders in all humanitarian causes? Sikhs are the primary ones to supply assist to the needy; can we neglect how Sikhs had been the front-runners in serving to the victims of the Manchester and Paris assaults? Wherever there’s a pure calamity, Sikhs attain out very first and serve meals/water and medication with none bias or agenda. If the world acknowledges the selfless service of turban wearers, why are some international locations nonetheless so averse to the individuals donning these turbans?
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The world is full of people that make Sikhism and turbans well-known. Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, the primary Sikh deputy in Harris County, who was assassinated whereas doing his obligation, was recognized for his humanitarian contributions to Texas. He was a unifying determine within the Houston space and even the non-Sikh inhabitants mourned his demise and got here ahead to assist his household. Lately, all of us noticed how prime leaders of the world adorned the turban as a part of the 550th Parkash Purab celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
But, the individuals in Europe proceed to play their ignorance card in the case of Sikhs and disrespect the turban. Western tradition hasn’t accepted our turban, extra due to their racist angle, and fewer due to the concern aspect. I’ve been elevating my voice towards such incidents for the previous few years. In 2016 as effectively, I wrote a letter to the US ambassador relating to an incident of disrespect of the turban and a Sikh boy at a US airport. In the identical yr, Sikh American actor and mannequin Waris Ahluwalia was barred from a flight for refusing to take away his turban.
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The turban is part of the Sikh id and asking any Sikh to take away it’s racial prejudice. Such incidents are occurring so much today and it’s not in any respect due to ignorance. First-world international locations get pleasure from trying down on us due to our turban. Let me share with everybody why Sikhs put on a turban: it’s a blessing of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who wished to advertise equality in an period when solely the Aristocracy wore turbans. So he requested his Khalsa warriors to put on turbans to replicate the truth that a Khalsa (Sikh) believes in equality and respect.
As a religious Sikh, I worth my turban greater than my life; quoting a well-known Shabad “Sir Jaave Ta Jaave Mera Sikhi Sidak Na Jave,” which implies that “I’m prepared to sacrifice my head; however I need to not lose my Sikh lifestyle.” The turban is a lifestyle for Sikhs and I’d be blissful to be a part of a world that accepts my turban, respects it, and displays on the emotional dedication of Sikhs’ apparel.
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