Washington:
A US-based Sikh advocacy group has asked the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to end its ban on religious head coverings immediately and permanently.
The FIBA this week announced that it would allow athletes to wear religious head coverings in limited circumstances as part of a “trial period”, even though turbaned Sikh athletes have already demonstrated that they can safely play the game.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Sapreet Kaur, executive director of the Sikh Coalition.
“FIBA is telling religious minorities that their human rights will be protected on a part-time basis. This is unacceptable. People are entitled to full-time protection of their human rights, including the right to practice their religion. FIBA is just adding insult to injury,” Kaur said.
According to FIBA’s announcement, religious accommodations still cannot be granted for international matches.
Instead, FIBA will wait until 2015 to decide whether to allow religious exceptions for matches at the “lowest official international level” and wait further until 2016 to make a permanent decision about religious accommodations.
In the meantime, FIBA can still force Indian Sikh athletes to remove their turbans for matches outside India, Sikh Coalition said.
Sikh Coalition is now asking its supporters to continue recording protest videos using the hashtags #CallFoulonFIBA and #LetSikhsPlay.
