French Sikhs urge Sushma Swaraj to renew passports of asylum seekers’ families

Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 19

Sikhs community asked Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday to renew Indian passports of those people whose families have been given asylum in France.

Iqbal Singh Bhatti, president of French NGO Aurore Dawn Association of France, led a delegation to met Swaraj at a reception programme held at the Indian Embassy there.

The French government allows families of those it grants asylum to immigrate, but Indian Embassy doesn’t renew their Indian passports.

“Due to this, many Indian families are stuck here in France for more than twenty years. Even their next generations can’t meet their grandparents and other relatives living in India,” Bhatti said, adding that Swaraj promised to consider the plea on humanitarian grounds. 

Sikhs also discussed the ongoing ‘dastaar struggle’, waged since 2004 in France, with the minister.

France banned all visible religious symbols in public in 2004, including, among other headgear, turbans, leading to an outcry from Sikhs.

The French government also asks Sikhs seeking immigration to remove their turbans, a condition that forced Sikh activist Ranjit Singh to return to India.

Swaraj is on the second leg of her four-nation tour of Italy, France, Luxembourg and Belgium.