India Friday took up with Italy the sensitive issue of Sikhs being asked to remove their turbans for security checks at airports in this country and got an assurance that the cultural and religious beliefs of Indians will be respected.
Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna met his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini here for bilateral talks during which the issue of turbans was raised prominently.
Members of the Sikh community were recently asked to take off their turbans during security checks at Italian airports and India had lodged a protest with the Italian Foreign Office on this issue earlier.
In March, the coach of golfer Jeev Milkha Singh,
Amritinder Singh was asked to remove his turban while he was about to board a flight to Sicily.
Apart from this, Sikh community members were also asked to take off their turbans while getting photographed for ID cards at local police stations and many felt humiliated by the procedure.
Frattini told Krishna that Italy was looking into a system wherein turbans need not be removed for security checks, official sources said.
Till such time as a suitable system is devised, if some security checks are required they will be done in a private room and not in an open area or in toilets, they said.
Frattini assured Krishna that Indian cultural and religious beliefs, specially when they are related to minority communities, would be respected.
Krishna said that Sikhs are a highly respected community in Italy and will safeguard their human rights,including expression of religious beliefs.
The minister was also informed that the municipality of Rome has agreed to install a statue of legendary Bangla Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore at a prime location.