New Delhi: A Sikh pilot and a crew member of a Jet Airways flight were asked to take off their turbans during a security check at Milan airport before the plane could leave for Delhi, despite the Italian government`s promise against continuation of such practice.
Sources claimed the commander and the cabin crew member
had to take off their headgear after Italian authorities
insisted on removal of the turbans for the security check.
The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Italian airport
when the Jet flight was to be commandeered by the Sikh pilot
to fly to Delhi, the airline sources said.
"The pilot was operating a flight back to Delhi from
Milan, when he was asked to take off my turban for the
security check. He tried to reason with the security staff
that he had been screened through the metal detector but the
officials did not listen to him," a source said.
After an uproar over the incident involving golfer Jeev
Milkha Singh`s coach Amritinder Singh, who was made to
take off his turban at the same airport in March this year,
Italy had announced in June that Sikhs travelling to the
country will no longer have to remove their turbans at the
airports during security screening.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal has condemned the incident
and slammed the UPA government for failing to resolve the
turban issue
The party urged the UPA to get the issue resolved at the
international level "as Sikhs were repeatedly being humiliated
in different countries".
PTI
