Outrage over Sikhs deportees not allowed to wear turbans by US authorities
Sikh deportees said from the time they were kept at detention centres in the US till they reached Amritsar airport, they were not allowed to wear their turbans
A row has broken out over Sikh deportees from the US not being allowed to wear their turban after they were caught illegally trying to enter the US at the US-Mexican border.
A video is being circulating on social media showing a Sikh deportee Harpreet Singh (21-year-old) from Punjab's Ghanshampur village, recounting his ordeal. He is one of the 116 illegal Indian immigrants who landed at the Amritsar airport late Saturday (February 16) night.
The fresh batch of deportees included 65 immigrants from Punjab, 33 from Haryana and eight from Gujarat.
One of the Sikh deportees told PTI that when they landed at the Amritsar airport, they were not wearing turbans. He said that when they entered the US illegally, they were asked to remove their turbans.
Turban is part of the Sikh
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on Sunday (February 16) strongly condemned the US authorities for allegedly not allowing Sikh deportees, who were part of the second batch of illegal Indian immigrants brought from America, to wear their turbans.
The SGPC statement came after some visuals appeared on social media showing Sikh deportees without turbans while completing their immigration formalities at the Amritsar airport. SGPC officials, who were deputed for providing 'langar' and bus service for deportees on Saturday night at the airport, ended up also providing 'dastar' (turban) to Sikh deportees.
SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal condemned the US authorities for allegedly not allowing them to wear their turbans.
It is a matter of regret that deportees were brought in shackles and Sikh deportees were not wearing turbans, he added.
Grewal said the SGPC will soon raise the issue with the US authorities. "Turban is the part of a Sikh," he said.
A US military aircraft carrying 116 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar airport late Saturday night. The fresh batch of deportees included 65 immigrants from Punjab, 33 from Haryana and eight from Gujarat.
Also read: ‘Handcuffed, legs chained’: Second-batch US deportee reports same treatment
Not allowed to wear turban for 20 days
Amid the outrage over Sikhs being stripped off the turban, Jaswinder Singh 21, from Moga district, told Indian Express, how they were deprived of their turbans. He had gone to the US after paying an agent ₹44 lakhs by selling his family’s 1.5 kila of land, mortgaging their two-room house and selling their buffaloes.
Jaswinder, who was among the second batch of Indian nationals deported by the US, was able to wear his turban only after he reached Amritsar airport. For 20 days, from the time he was detained by US authorities while attempting to cross the US-Mexico border illegally on January 27, he was not allowed to wear his turban.
According to Jaswinder, they were asked to remove their turbans along with their clothes at the detention centre in the US and were allowed to wear only a T-shirt, a lower, socks, and shoes. When he and other Sikh youths asked them to return their turbans US officials refused saying that they did not want to be held responsible if any of them hang themselves to death.
Jaswinder managed to wrap his head with a parna (a cloth worn by Sikh men to cover their heads) only after he reached Amritsar airport and he got his luggage back, he said, according to the report.
Also read: Two murder accused among second-batch US deportees arrested on arrival
MEA should take it up
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia too condemned the US authorities for allegedly sending Sikh deportees without turbans.
He also urged the ministry of external affairs to immediately take up the matter with the US authorities so that such an incident is never repeated in future.
