New Delhi: The imposition of a ban on baptized Sikh college students sporting kirpan, considered one of 5 Kakkar’s of Sikhs, by the New South Wales (NSW), Australia, Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has snowballed into a significant controversy as not solely the Sikhs of Oz tooth and nail opposed the order however Sikh’s single largest consultant physique Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has now approached the Government of India in search of its intervention for revoking the ban.
“The Sikh community has been hit hard by the knee-jerk reaction of the NSW government in the blanket banning of the Kirpan in NSW schools. The NSW government’s decision to impose a ban contravenes a statutory right to wear a kirpan for religious reasons. The right is not due to a ‘loophole’ in the law, as referred to by the Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell,” stated Secretary, Australian Sikh Association (ASA) Pritpal Singh Tiwana whereas speaking to media on Thursday (May 20).
Sarah Mitchell had on May 6 introduced a ban on sporting kirpan in public colleges after a 14 years outdated baptized Sikh scholar of Glenwood High School allegedly stabbed a 16-year scholar twice in his abdomen along with his kirpan.
Tiwana stated the ban was imposed with out taking the Sikh group into confidence, or session, in response to an alleged incident involving a 14-year-old Sikh scholar, who’s believed to have been bullied at school. He is alleged to have used his kirpan that, regrettably, resulted in harm to a different scholar at a Sydney faculty.
Condemnations have poured in from different elements of Australia as properly. Danny Singh, a resident of Melbourne, stated, “Ban is an assault on our religion and culture. I believe the minister has made this decision in haste and she needs to go back and make a much more educated decision.” Stating that carrying kirpan was obligatory for baptized Sikh, he stated, “The kirpan is commanded to us to be carried by the father of Sikhism, the founder of the Khalsa himself.”
The Sikh religion is the sixth-largest faith with over 30 million followers worldwide. World leaders have acknowledged the charitable efforts of Sikhs through the bush fires, floods, earthquakes, and different pure disasters, together with the Covid-19 pandemic, inside Australia and globally. During the pandemic, the Sikh group has continued to distribute free meals, grocery hampers, organising free hospitals, and offering free oxygen to these in want in India and elsewhere.
Tiwana knowledgeable that since Nineties Sikhs have been residing in Australia as accountable residents, and there had not been any recognized incidents involving the kirpan in colleges.
“We deeply regret the recent incident and the position the two youths are in and we empathise with them and offer all possible assistance to them and their families,” Tiwana stated.
Meanwhile, SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur stated that SGPC has written a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and the High Commissioner of India to Australia on the problem of banning kirpan in public colleges of NSW.
“Kirpan is an important part of Sikh life and it was very painful to hear about the ban. We have urged for the intervention of Union Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar and other officials to take up the matter with the concerned authorities in Australia. We urged them to make efforts to get this decision banning kirpan in public schools in NSW for Sikh children,” stated Kaur.
