A Sikh body on Tuesday urged the Centre and the Akal Takht to take up the issue of turban ban in schools in France [Images] with President Nicholas Sarkozy, who will be visiting India later this week.

"We urge the Union government, especially Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images], to take up the issue with the French president. The highest temporal seat of Sikhs, the Akal Takht, too should try and take up this matter with Sarkozy," International Sikh Confederation president Lt General (retd) Kartar Singh Gill told reporters in Chandigarh.

Gill said Sikh children were being denied admissions in many French schools for wearing turbans and many of them have even been expelled.

"Sikhs are also required to remove turbans to get photographs on identity cards, licences etc. This is a vital issue for Sikhs, as one of our fundamental rights is being denied by a country," he said.

Gurpreet Singh, a member of the United Sikhs, an NGO, said they appeal to all Sikhs to participate in a march which the ISC will be taking out in Chandigarh on January 24 in protest against the French ban on wearing turbans.