Adelaide 17 Feb 2015:– Amidst the recent controversy of not allowing kirpan during India-Pak Cricket Match inside Adelaide Oval, the complex issue actually proved to be a baffling puzzle for the security officers at the Adelaide cricket ground.
According to Cosimo Mezzino, a security officer on duty at one of the entrance gate of Adelaide Oval, a few Sikhs came to the ground with their small daggers (kirpan) on and he told them that “You know, in South Australia, you can’t carry a knife in public. So, I had to stop these folks, including a woman, and I had to tell them that they couldn’t carry their knives into the ground.”
Mezzino said that the Sikhs told him that carrying the kirpan was a religious obligation for them, and they showed him religious texts which proved this. However confused and unsatisfied security officer called his bosses and tried to figure out what could be done. The authorities didn’t know how to deal with something related to religion, so the issue couldn’t be resolved.
Australia being a friendly and peace-loving country didn’t want to be branded racists. The security officials were not fully aware about the right course of action for the process so they just suggested Sikhs carrying religious daggers (kirpan) to keep those out of sight of other audience.
According to some Amritdhari Sikhs who watched the match wearing their kirpans suggested that they were not even asked for removal or if they were wearing a kirpan or not.
Sikh community is thankful to the Australian authorities for allowing them to watch the match while wearing kirpans. However Sikh community in Australia would like to proactively get involved in such decision making process before it becomes a controversy.
Source: Singh Station