Allows Turbans To Be Searched

Members of the Sikh faith in the United States aren't pleased with a new TSA airport security policy, which allows screeners to pat down turbans.

Sikh groups have called the new policy discriminatory. Previously, screeners were only allowed to search or remove the turbans following a beep from a metal detector, after other methods to identify the source of the warning had been expended.

In a release Friday, the Sikh Coalition -- the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the US -- said it "strongly opposes" the new restrictions, put into effect August 4.

TSA officials reportedly told the Sikh Coalition that the new Standard Operating Procedure includes a guidance recommending that America's 43,000 airport screeners pull aside turban-wearing travelers for secondary screenings.

While admitting the new guidelines also recommend pulling aside those wearing cowboy hats or berets, the Coalition said the turban is the only form of religious attire specifically identified by TSA in the new policy -- an example of de facto religious discrimination, in the eyes of the civil rights group.

"Telling screeners to search people in turbans is the same as telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims," said Amardeep Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition. "The policy allows screeners to single out travelers on the basis of their religion. The message this sends to the public is that people who wear turbans are dangerous. That attitude challenges the spirit of religious pluralism on which our country was built."

TSA says the policy allows screeners to search for non-metallic weapons that could be hidden in headgear, including turbans. (One imagines this policy could also catch the occasional marmoset.)

The BBC reports Sikh men wear turbans to cover their hair, which must be kept uncut in keeping with their religion.

This isn't the first time Sikhs and the TSA have clashed over religious freedoms. Other organizations representing Sikhs recently completed a publicity campaign explaining the religious significance of the kirpan, a ceremonial sword or dagger also worn by Sikh men.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.sikhcoalition.org