Wednesday, February 2 2005 16:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Observing that the ban on wearing turbans by Sikh students in French public schools was not intended to discriminate against the community, France has said it would do its best to respect its sensitivities and feelings.

This was conveyed to Rajya Sabha MP and President of Indo-French Parliamentary Friendship Group Ashwini Kumar by French Minister for Foreign Trade Francois Loos.

Kumar, who was on a visit to Paris recently, had taken up with authorities there the issue of the law banning wearing of turbans by Sikh students in public schools.

Kumar, who visited the country at the invitation of the President of French Senate Christian Poncelet, told the French Government that there was a need to assuage the sentiments of the Sikh community as it regarded the turban as an integral component of their way of life.

The Rajya Sabha MP was "assured that the French law was not intended to discriminate against the Sikh community and that the French Government would do its best to respect the sensitivities and feelings of the Sikhs," a statement said.

Kumar also urged captains of the French industry to invest in Punjab and to take advantage of the new industrial policy in the State that encouraged FDI in infrastructure as also knowledge-based and food processing industries.