''You can assure the Sikh community, on my behalf, that their sentiments will be taken care of."

Jack,
soaping up Lal Krishna Advani
February 20, 2006 (Sify)

Remember Jack's vague reassurances to the Sikh community during his ballyhooed trip to India earlier this year? No? Neither does Jack.

IF YOU ARE DYING FOR FRANCE, WEAR WHAT YOU PLEASE
Postcard Reads: Gentlemen Of India Marching To Chasten German Hooligans

SIKHS LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR FRANCE
BUT NOT ALLOWED TURBANS

September 7, 2006 (SSNews/NDTV) - Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's presence on the 91st anniversary of the battle of Neuve Chappel [sic, March 10-13, 1915] in France is important. Around 90,000 officers and men of the Indian army from all parts of the subcontinent in two cavalry and two infantry divisions fought on the western front. A further 50,000 worked in bases behind the front line remote villages in northwestern France. ... A large number of those killed in Neuve Chappel were Sikhs - men, whose forefathers had fought for the freedom of France.*

In the bitter winter of 1915 British troops moved up the western front to attack the German army - more than half of this attacking force was made up of Indian soldiers. The men were fighting thousands of kilometers away from home. They were often used as cannon fodder by allied forces who pushed them into the killing zone first.

Today, the Sikh community in France deeply hurt at being denied the right to wear their headgear in schools has a message - respect us, our religion and the memory of our men who fought for your country.

"We want to remind the Indian government that forefathers of the Sikhs who laid their lives for France are not being allowed to wear turbans in schools," said Shingars Singh Mann.

The memorandum presented here said no Sikh should be asked to take his turban off arguing that Sikh soldiers died on French soil wearing their turbans.

* From "Lest We Forget":

Over 138,000 Indian troops fought in Belgium and France during World War I, many of them Sikhs. More than one quarter of these soldiers would became casualties.

In the first battle of Ypres at Flanders in 1914 a platoon of Dogra Sikhs died fighting to the last man, who shot himself with his last cartridge rather than surrender.

After the bloody battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915 the Sikh regements had lost 80% of their men, 3 regements stood at only 16% of their original compliment.

PFFT (What is this?): Promises made to be broken 4 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

Nous n 'accepterons JAMAIS le communautarisme yanks qui est l 'expression du racisme anglo-saxon.
D' ailleurs , que Pave se renseigne , les caniches Brits sont en train de se demander face à leurs conceptions grotesques:

"Et si les Français avaient raison ?"

Good luck to your country in Iraq , dear Milton !!!