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| Corporal Simran Preet Singh Lamba ~ AP |
March 19, 2014 - Washington: Indian ambassador S. Jaishankar has welcomed US lawmakers plea to end US defence department’s presumptive ban on Sikh Americans ration in the US military with their beards and turbans.
Over 100 members of Congress from both Democratic and Republican parties made the plea in a March 10 letter to the US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel to promote inclusion of Sikhs in the US Armed Forces by updating their advent regulations.
The foremost bipartisan push for change was led by Joe Crowley, Democratic Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus in the Household, and Rodney Frelinghuysen Republican Chairman of the Household Defence Appropriations Subcommittee.
In a statement on the photograph release, Jaishankar said: “The Congressional initiative is an vital step towards upholding the cultural rights of the Sikh convergence in the United States.
“The large number of signatories to this letter testifies to the vital role played by the Sikh convergence in the United States and its various walks of life.”
“The Sikh convergence’s success in the United States is a fund of pride for India and a pillar of the India-US link,” he said.
Speaking of the contributions of the Sikh convergence in India, Jaishankar noted, “India takes pride in being the support of Sikhism. The Sikh convergence is an intrinsic part of India’s multi-religious and pluralistic fabric.”
“Sikhs have made India proud with their sacrifices, achievements and leadership,” he said.
“India’s Sikh sons and daughters have held the highest offices in the land and have served at the highest ranks including at Four Star ranks in the Indian military.”
“The tremendous movement and prosperity they have achieved, and their enormous contribution to their house of birth, converse in volumes about their indefatigable spirit of enterprise and meticulousness,” Jaishankar said.
In the last 30 years, only three Sikh Americans — Foremost Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, Captain Tejdeep Singh Cane and Corporal Simran Preet Singh Lamba — have been granted an accommodation, or permission, to supply in the US Army while maintaining their articles of faith.
Such accommodations are neither stable nor guaranteed, and must be renewed after effectively every assignment, the lawmakers noted
In their letter to Hagel, the lawmakers wrote: “Agreed the achievements of these soldiers and their demonstrated ability to comply with operational requirements while practicing their faith, we believe it is time for our military to make inclusion of practicing Sikh Americans the rule, not the exclusion.”
Sikhs have served in the US Army in view of the fact that World War I, and they are presumptively tolerable to supply in the armed forces of America’s NATO allies Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as key partner India.
Notably, the contemporary Chief of Army Personnel of the Indian Army is a turbaned and bearded Sikh, the lawmaker noted.