With a view to seeking a solution to the turban issue in France, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the matter with the President of France during his visit to India, while the SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh has sought an appointment with the French Ambassador Francois Richier to discuss the issue.

In the letter to the PM, the SGPC president stated that the Sikh students in France were subjected to humiliation and forced to enter schools without turbans, which were an inseparable part of the Sikh dress code.

“When the representations of the SGPC, supported by the representations of the Sikh  religious organisations around the globe failed to move the French government, the UNO gave a green signal to the Sikh students to go ahead with the turban,” wrote Avtar Singh in the letter to the PM.

He has urged the Prime Minister to have the issue on the agenda during the forthcoming visit of the President of France to India and urge him to allow Sikh students to attend classes with their turbans on.