Chandigarh: Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday appealed to External Affairs minister S Jaishankar to initiate a dialogue with the UAE government to sensitize it about the religious significance of the five ‘kakkars’, especially the "kirpan’’ and "kataar’’, and the importance of allowing Sikhs to observe their faith.
In a letter to the minister, she said she was making this appeal in the wake of a recent advisory by the Indian Embassy in UAE directing Indians not to carry sharp objects while visiting the country in view of Article 405 of the UAE penal law which prohibits the same.
Asserting that this move had caused deep distress and mental agony to Sikh travellers and residents alike, Harsimrat Badal said there have been instances of Sikhs being detained and compelled to remove their ``kirpan’’ and "kataar’’.
“The Sikh community has always contributed positively to societies worldwide, including in the UAE, and demand the freedom to practice its faith in accordance with its tenets. Denying Sikhs the right to wear their five ``kakkars’’, particularly the "kirpan’’, is a curtailment of religious freedom and contrary to the principles of mutual respect and pluralism that India stands for”, she said.
The MP also requested Jaishankar to consider sending a high-level delegation, including representatives from the National Commission for Minorities and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), to engage with UAE authorities and sensitise them about Sikh articles of faith.
She said that the "kirpan’’, one of the Five Ks (``panj kakaar’’), was a sacred symbol and an inseparable part of Sikh identity, mandated by Sikh tenets since the time of Guru Gobind Singh.
