Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday asked the Centre to take up with foreign governments the issue of recent pat-down security checks of Sikhs,including their turbans at airports in the US. In a lighter vein,Badal said "fortunately" his turban has not been touched yet. "May be it was my age factor or that I was accompanied by some officials of the Indian embassy there (US)," Badal,who visited the United States recently,told reporters here. He called upon the Union Government to tackle the turban issue with the concerned foreign governments as it was a matter of "extreme sensitivity" for the Sikhs. The action of discrimination against the Sikhs in the matter of turbans injured their religious feelings and should be stopped forthwith,he said. In the latest instance of such an incident,Indian diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri was asked to remove his turban during a security check at Houston airport two weeks ago.
