Attacks on Sikhs: Sikh body writes to PM

Taking a strong view of the assault on a Sikh youth in Edinburgh in Britain, the apex body of Sikh religious affairs on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to take up the matter at the diplomatic level with the UK.

"It is not just the Edinburgh incident. During the past couple of years, many incidents have occurred at different places which are a cause of great concern for all Sikhs," Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee President Avtar Singh told PTI.

"Be it the recent banning of carrying 'kirpans' by Denmark or banning of turbans in French schools, all these incidents have deeply anguished the Sikhs," Singh said.

A group of white youth attacked a Sikh teenager and clipped his hair in a public park in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh on Tuesday.

"This barbaric act should be universally condemned and prime minister, being a Sikh himself, should condemn it in strong words," Singh said. He said incidents of forcible cutting or pulling of a Sikh's hair or beard had been on the rise in the country.

The SGPC head regretted that despite being approached, the prime minister had not spared time to discuss such issues.

"This year, we have been able to meet him just once. Many times we have approached him, but barring a telephonic talk on one occasion, the prime minister has been unable to spare time for us to discuss and take up such issues of vital concern for the Sikh community," Singh claimed.