Ambimama - India

Sikh organisations in the US have received dozens of complaints from community members saying they were told to remove their turbans at airports for security checks in the wake of a new rule that subjects air travellers wearing head covering to additional screening.

“For a Sikh man, that’s like being strip-searched,” Singh was quoted as saying by Mercury News.

“It’s like asking a woman to take off her blouse in public,” he said. “It’s that bad,” said J.P Singh, president of the Sikh Centre of the San Francisco Bay Area in El Sobrante.

“The federal government has equated our most precious article of faith with terrorism,” said Amardeep Singh, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group for Sikhs.

“To send a message that the turban is dangerous sends the wrong message to society,” Singh told the New York Times.

The Sikh Coalition also alleged that the new policy was put into effect without consulting Sikhs, whose population in the country is close to 280,000.
Already, 2,000 Sikhs have signed a petition protesting the new security check.

Sikhs have often been confused as Muslims and its members often suffer from anti-Muslim sentiment. Hate crimes against Sikhs increased after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.