‘Offensive’ thong removed from Web site

Clothing vendor HahaPanties has agreed to stop selling underwear featuring a Sikh symbol after the World Sikh Council complained that the undergarments are offensive.

The front of the $10 white thong featured the Khanda, an emblem representing the four pillars of Sikh belief, and was sold through the e-commerce Web site CafePress.com.

The site said: “Are you a practicing Sikh? How about your wife? She may not want them, but I’m sure the hip Sikh daughters will find these a hit.”

Tarunjit Singh Butalia, secretary general of the Columbus, Ohio-based World Sikh Council, said the thongs were inappropriate and is glad they were removed from the Web site.

“Putting the Sikh religious symbol on a golf shirt is OK,” Butalia said. “Putting it on a provocative piece of clothing – I would consider it to be in bad taste and offensive to people of faith.”

Thongs aren’t allowed under Sikh tenets, which say that the faithful should wear loose-fitting cotton underwear, called kachera, as a reminder of purity.

The dispute is the latest conflict between clothing makers and religious groups. Last year, the Victoria’s Secret catalog removed bikinis with Buddha on the crotch and breast areas after Buddhist groups complained.

Also last year, Urban Outfitters removed the dollar signs from its “Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl” T-shirts.