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Britain to scrap turban ban at high-risk workplaces

London, January 25
Britain is set to scrap a ban on turbans at high-risk workplaces next week, a move that some Sikh groups see as a “sweetener” to deal with the fallout of the Margaret Thatcher government's alleged role in Operation Bluestar in 1984.

The Department for Work and Pensions is set to announce that Sikhs will no longer be forced to wear hard hats inside factories and warehouses. British Sikhs have complained about the law since it was introduced in 1989 as it allows them to wear turbans on building sites but has required hard hats in other high-risk areas.

However, some Sikh groups questioned the timing of the government's announcement, which coincides with an ongoing inquiry into Britain's alleged role in Operation Bluestar, the Indian Army's operation to flush out extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Documents recently declassified by the National Archives pointed to Thatcher's collusion with her Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi in planning the raid on the Golden Temple.

Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation UK, claimed the move could be a "sweetener" to deal with the fallout of the allegations, which are being probed by Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood on the instructions of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"There's an old political saying that timing is everything in politics. This long overdue closure of a loophole in the employment law is welcome, yet it will do little to assuage the great concern that the government of 2014 may refuse to reveal the truth about the government of 1984," he said. — PTI

No hard hats

• The Department for Work and Pensions is set to announce that Sikhs will no longer be forced to wear hard hats inside factories and warehouses.
• British Sikhs have complained about the law since it was introduced in 1989 as it allows them to wear turbans on building sites but has required hard hats in other high-risk areas
• Some Sikh groups see as a “sweetener” to deal with the fallout of the Margaret Thatcher government's alleged role in Operation Bluestar in 1984.