New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Tuesday termed as “unfortunate” the Italian Supreme Court’s ban on carrying the ‘kirpan’, a dagger considered sacred in Sikhism.

DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the organization will urge External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to raise the issue with the Italian government.
These issues have cropped up in countries where the governments are not aware of the importance of such “articles of faith” for the Sikhs, said Sirsa who has recently been elected to the Delhi Assembly on a BJP ticket.
The Italian High Cassation Court on Monday ruled against a Sikh Indian migrant who wanted to carry a kirpan, even though it is against the Italian law, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The court said migrants who choose to live in the Western world have an obligation to conform to the values of the society they have chosen to settle in, even if its values differ from their own.

In Chandigarh, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) expressed concern and anguish, saying that the court decision has shaken the Sikh community all over the world.

In a statement released to the press, the party secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the court has ignored the fact that carrying of ‘kirpan’ is essential and mandatory part of religious code of conduct of an ‘Amritdhari Sikh’.

It is a question of faith and a fundamental right of a Sikh, the SAD said.

Banning of ‘Kirpan’ means that no ‘Amritdhari Sikh’ would be able to live in Italy after this order.