Browsing Tag: Airport

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.

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.

Amritsar Vikas Manch firmly believes that Sri Guru Ram Das International Airport, Amritsar, has a lot of potential to be profitable, but there is lack of will on the part of those in authority to turn its fortunes around.

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.

During the Christmas holidays I went to America. With Guru Jee's kirpaa. This is my story of that journey...

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.

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.

Last week, Representatives of the UNITED SIKHS, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), and Sikh Coalition met with the head of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Administrator John Pistole to discuss racial & religious profiling of Sikhs at American Airports.

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.

Director of United Sikhs, Mejindarpal Kaur, told TOI on Friday that the Sikh community understood the public's concern with national security. "However, we cannot accept an abrogation of a Sikh's constitutional right under article 25 (2) (b) of the Indian constitution, under which a Sikh has a right to wear a kirpan at all times," she said.

"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.

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.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to rename Amritsar's Rajasansi International Airport to Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport.

The success of the Amritsar-London-Toronto flight lies only in the fact that it originates from Amritsar. Diverting it via New Delhi will not only cause avoidable hardships to a majority of the air passengers but will be tantamount to surrendering a large chunk of the passenger pie to private airlines..

But on account of some undisclosed reasons, Air India, for its own purposes, is going to convert Amritsar International Airport into only a spoke airport. This negates the status of an international airport... Air India is going to make New Delhi Airport the only hub airport in Northern India.

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.