Browsing Tag: Security

Most of us hate the indignities of air travel but for some Americans, Sikhs especially, airport security is humiliating. One Sikh says that it’s not making America safer.

Amardeep Singh is a typical American guy --... Yet almost every time he travels, he said, he is pulled over by TSA agents for a secondary screening.

Delhi's gurdwara management committee president Manjeet Singh GK and other members of a Sikh delegation were asked to remove their turbans during a security check at Rome airport last Tuesday.

In those moments, I did a lot of soul searching. I think we all did. As a parent, I had to think beyond myself.

Stresses on water supplies aggravated by climate change are likely to cause more conflicts and water should be considered as vital to national security as defence, a United Nations report said on Friday.

A Federal Protective Service (FPS) Policy Directive that includes specific religious accommodations for Sikh articles of faith, including the kara and the kirpan, was released recently, right before the federal appellate hearing in an important employment discrimination (religious accommodation) case against the government involving the kirpan.

The Transportation Security Administration has done a wonderful job these past several years of ensuring our safety. Yet as civil rights organizations like SALDEF and the Sikh Coalition have shown us, it is now time for us to demand more.

We must face the reality that most of our Gurduaras are defenseless against an active shooter or any sort of violent perpetrator. We are not prepared or outfitted to handle these types of situations ourselves as a sovereign people.

Toronto police have developed a formal policy allowing Sikhs to bring their ceremonial daggers into courthouses.

The mobile app is called FlyRights. Travelers who suspect they have been profiled take out their smartphone, tap a finger on the app and answer about a dozen questions. Then they hit "submit" and an official complaint is filed immediately with the Transportation Security Administration.

PreCheck, the TSA’s nascent pre-screening program, allows some pre-approved frequent travelers to make it from check in to take off in record time – if they give the government access to lots of information in return.

Judge Jacek Tyszka ruled that though Warsaw airport border guards had violated his dignity when he was passing through controls at the airport, the action was not illegal under Polish law.

As the Senate prepares for a final vote on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012, battles from the early days of the war on terror threaten to derail a $662 billion defense authorization bill and bring a presidential veto.

The Court Case against Komandent Glowny of the Polish Border Guard saw CCTV footage. Court review of the footage shows that Sikhs passing through the checks follow all pre-checkin procedures - yet the Border Guards still harass Sikhs...

UNITED SIKHS wishes to acknowledge the willingness of TSA and DHS to listen to the challenges faced by our community and we hope that we can continue to strive for a more secure nation while being sensitive to the deeply held religious convictions religious freedoms of Sikh travelers.

A unique Court case is taking place in Poland of a Sikh taking the Polish Airport Security to Court for disgracing Sikh travelers passing through Poland.

He watched in disbelief as the guard asked the elder ahead of him to remove his turban and lay it on the table. Mr. Niaz, who had journeyed more than eight hours on rugged roads, shuddered. “That made us so embarrassed, and it made me so sad,” he said. “I felt dishonored

Sikh Council UK led a joint meeting with Italian Sikh representatives, Indian Embassy and the Italian government departments to discuss the issues of Dastaar searching and the wider respect for the 5K's, Sikh articles of faith.

In recent months, there have been increasing problems at Italian airports for Sikhs travelling from the UK being asked in very impolite and often belligerent terms to remove their turbans, after having successfully passed through security scanners.

Like the man afraid of his own shadow, the things we are attached to are fantasies – they are not real and we can see them dissolve into nothing if only we would look at them in the right way.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has today lifted the ban it had imposed in April on the wearing of a Kirpan by employees working on the airside at the Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport, Amritsar, following a campaign by the UNITED SIKHS and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Sikhs leaving Italian airports will no longer be asked to take off their turbans or taken for checking in toilets if they protest, according to sources close to Minister for External Affairs S. M. Krishna who held bilateral talks on the issue with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini in Rome on Friday.

Many analysts were surprised that just six attackers could occupy part of the base for such a long time against a force of hundreds of commandos and navy marines. Pakistan security agencies are known sometimes not to give full accounts of violent incidents, and often hold suspects for months without informing the public.

"There seems to be intolerance especially in the EU for the turban worn by Sikh... a strong message should go out to EU as wearing turban is a cultural and religious issue with Punjabi people," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.

Item number three on the sign above the departure gate at Chandigarh Airport was a bit of a worry: “Note: Sikh passengers have been permitted to carry a Kirpan (up to 6-inch blade and 3-inch handle) in domestic flights only.”

Taking a strong exception to the popularized view that the problem exists in US, France or in foreign countries only; the SSF has maintained that 'but it persists in India', and even in Punjab also. “Sikhs in India, and even in Punjab, are facing similar situation, where they are compelled to remove their turbans by police authorities”

In the latest incident of Indian diplomats being apparently singled out for security checks in U.S. airports, Indian envoy to the United Nations Hardeep Puri was subjected to pat-down check removing his turban at an airport in Houston, Texas.

According to safety procedures at airports around the world, if a border guard suspects that a Sikh is smuggling something under his turban, he is asked to touch the turban himself and then a guard inspects him with a special detector.

"It’s humiliating for people and should be stopped where possible. I don’t want to tie the security people’s hands so they can’t fight terror but we need a common sense approach to protect people’s right to follow their religion. "I don’t think we should have this situation of turbans being searched...."

Countries are looking to increase their airport security checks in the wake of a failed Dec. 25 terrorist attack.