Sikh orgs add international pressure on NSW Kirpan ban

Sikh organisations from the UK, India and Canada are leading international calls to have the New South Wales (Australia) kirpan ban in schools revoked.

The kirpan (small sword) is an article of faith that is part of the uniform of Amritdhari (initiated) Sikhs. It is mandatory to be worn by the Khalsa (the collective body of Amritdhari Sikhs). The ban on the kirpan was put in place after a stabbing incident involving a 14-year-old Sikh pupil and a 16-year-old non-Sikh at a school with a notorious racist bullying problem.

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In the last few days, the Sikh Federation UK, Canada’s World Sikh Organisation and India based SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) have all reached out to Australian authorities to reflect international anger at the move enforcing religious discrimination against Sikh practice. The fact that countless Sikh children have worn kirpans in schools in the west for decades without issue has seen many suggest that the ban is a reactionary measure which ignores the issue of racist anti-Sikh bullying in Australian schools.

The SGPC stated New South Wales’ kirpan ban is “against religious freedoms of Sikhs” in a letter addressed to Australia’s High Commissioner to India. The letter also addressed the bullying issue at the heart of the incident and directly called for the ban to be revoked.

Canada based World Sikh Org directly reached out to New South Wales’ minister for education Sarah Mitchell, “offering the Canadian experience with respect to the accommodation as a successful model.” WSO also reflected worries of many Australian Sikhs by stating the ban will lead to “ignorance and xenophobia” towards Sikhs.

Sikh Federation UK, a Sikh political and legal advocacy and lobbying group, confirmed that the All Party-Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs have written to the UK Australian High Commission to share “guidance developed on Kirpan with UK govt depts and public orgs”. The group also confirmed that Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, the first female Sikh MP in UK history, was seeking an urgent meeting to find a “sensible solution” to the ban.

Meanwhile, Australian media pundit Chris Smith has come in for criticism for calling the carrying of a kirpan a “backwards practice”. The Sikh Press Association have reached out to Chris Smith to request a platform to counter his views, as expressed on popular Australian TV show The Today Show.