"similarly - all Sikhs are required by religion to carry a sword - often it is just a small ceremonial sword but there was an issue of whether such weapons may be banned from schools - and in Canada
the Supreme court ruled that they cannot be banned."

However, it should be added that the court did place elaborate restrictions on how the knife (kurpan; not a sword in my understanding) could be carried, such that it would be utterly impractical for use as a weapon. The response to this ruling - or lack of response - seemed to indicate that the concerned parties felt they could live with this compromise. That's compromise, people; are we familiar with the concept?

"when I was a kid my math teacher who was from Yugoslavia related a story"

And we've seen how well the Muslims and non-Muslims get along in the former Yugoslavia!

"Muslim Women police officers who wish to wear a veil. I would definitely not be ok with that." Let's stick to the actual issues; there's enough hard feelings about them without bringing up hypothetical scenarios to start fretting about. I know you're just "thinking out loud", but some people are pretty worked up about this veil thing.

"Western women while in an Islamic country are required to obey local customs, no matter what their own religion or customs might dictate."

I suspect there are no shortage of instances of western women flouting local customs in Islamic countries. Besides, is this really a tit-for-tat issue? Aren't our (i.e., Western) countries liberal democracies? Or is that only when it's convenient?

"At the same time look around at the number of Muslims, who "do not take alcohol", in the puds and clubs with their alcoholic drinks!"

And how many of them are veiled women?

"a story told to me today by a Muslim girl (uncovered)"

The story she told has me wondering: Just how uncovered was she? But then, I don't want to pry into your personal life!