New Delhi: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is distraught on the Australian authorities’s order to ban Sikhs’ spiritual image ‘kirpan’ at authorities schools in the New South Wales area.
SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur termed the choice introduced by Australia’s Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell to ban carrying of ‘kirpan’ by Sikh youngsters in schools as ‘unlucky and in opposition to spiritual freedom’.
The SGPC has urged the Indian authorities and the Indian Ambassador to Australia to take up the matter with Australian authorities and make efforts to revoke this determination. SGPC said that may write letters to the governments of India and Australia in this regard, quickly.
Kaur mentioned, “The government there should have taken proper advice from the representative bodies of the Sikh community before deciding to ban the ‘kirpan’. It is one of the five kakaars (symbols of faith) of Sikhism. For an Amritdhari (initiated) Sikh, ‘Kirpan’ is an integral part of his body. It has been worn by Sikhs for over 300 years.”
She mentioned it’s believed that the training minister had a web based assembly with two members of the Sikh neighborhood whereby she knowledgeable them in regards to the ban. However, no dialogue had been held with the Sikh neighborhood earlier than the choice was taken.
Kaur mentioned, “The ‘kirpan’ is not a knife or a dagger but for the Sikhs it is a symbol of faith with deep meaning and purpose. And this decision of ban on kirpan has deeply hurt the minds of the Sikh community at home and abroad and is being widely opposed.”
As per the knowledge, the ban on ‘kirpan’ in public schools in New South Wales will come into impact from May 19, Wednesday. The ban was imposed following an incident at a Sydney college on May 6, 2021, when a 14-year-old Sikh pupil who had been bullied used his kirpan and ended up injured one other pupil.
