Posted on 10/20/2007 12:21:02 PM PDT by camerakid400
WASHINGTON: Sikhs have welcomed the steps taken by the TSA authorities to correct the policy of indiscriminate screening of Turbans at the airports. The United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced an adjustment of its screening policies for headwear which included Turbans.
According to the new guidelines by TSA, airport screeners will no longer "pat down" people wearing religious head coverings and travelers will have the choice to go through alternative security measures. Officials said such alternatives might include walking through a machine that detects explosive chemicals. Or wearers could agree to pat down their own turban, and then have their hands swabbed with a cloth that is tested for chemical residue.
Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, said, “This is a welcome change. The Sikh community is fully committed to work with government to ensure the safety of all Americans and at the same time making sure that the religious rights of all citizens are protected. Dr. Singh also welcomed that TSA has promised that it will provide all its field employees with mandatory cultural awareness training about Sikh observances.”
Dr. Rajwant Singh also stated that , “We would also like to recommend that TSA make efforts to hire more Sikh Americans in the TSA administration as well as TSA officers. This will certainly help in creating a congenial environment for the Sikh community.”
The new policy is a direct response to Sikh concerns, raised after the TSA in August listed "bulky" headwear such as cowboy hats, berets or turbans should be patted down.
The TSA has now removed turbans from its screener guidance.
(Excerpt) Read more at punjabnewsline.com ...
“Sikhs have welcomed the steps taken by the TSA authorities to correct the policy of indiscriminate screening of Turbans at the airports.”
Will Catholic nuns be allowed to keep their habits on?
“It is complete nonsense the numbers of Muslims we’ve hired at our airports.....”
It has become easy for an Al-Qaeda member to pay a night visit to one of these Muslim security people and tell them to look the other way when a terrorist wants to board a plane or else something dreadful may happen to a family member. This PC nonsense is going to get a lot of people killed.
If I HAVE TO TAKE OFF MY SHOES....the Sikh’s can take off their TURBANS! This is crazy!
They wouldn't dare. They would stand out like a sore thumb, for one thing, but they wouldn't want an actual Sikh to spot them.
If I have read this article correctly, only Sikh-style turbans are off the list, and cowboy hats, etc., are still subject to search. Bah.
I know at least one Sikh who wears a baseball cap sometimes instead of a turban. The important thing to him is to keep his head covered, not that it be covered by a turban.
Why wouldn’t they dare? They dare to do a lot of things. And why would they stand out like a sore thumb? They would be swarthy guys in regulation Sikh turbans. Do Sikhs have some kind of secret posture that allows other Sikhs to detect impostors from afar? Are the TSA folks trained in this detection method? Since we have so graciously said, go ahead, we won’t mess with your turbans, I think turban-wearing non-Sikh Muslims are probably already out there getting on airplanes.
If they told then it wouldn't be a secret, but even then nobody can impost Sikhs.
True. I don’t think that was typical of Sikh behavior, but those particular perps were certainly far out on the terrorist spectrum.
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