New Delhi, India - The Army has submitted data on the number of Muslims in its ranks to the Defence Ministry but requested that the information be not given to the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee. The committee had sought information for preparing a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim population in the country.
The panel said its efforts to seek information according to its terms of reference had been misconstrued and misrepresented.
"We had only asked for the number of Muslims in the military as part of questionnaires sent to over 500 institutions all over the country. It has been blown out of proportion. After all, that is our mandate," committee's Officer on Special Duty Syed Zafar Mahmood said.
The Army told the Government that it had less than eight per cent Muslim personnel and this number varied slightly since Independence. It had striven to recruit eight per cent Muslims out of its overall strength of 11 lakh, but the transfer of the Baluch and Frontier Force regiments to Pakistan led to shortfalls.
The Army maintains two registers on the religious composition of its men. The register for officers has a breakdown according to ranks, and the one for those below officer ranks is a composite one, sources in the Army said.
The Navy and the Air Force had submitted information on Muslim personnel immediately after a request by the committee.
The Army attempted to stall furnishing the data but was left with no option after the Ministry sought one. "It was almost an order," Army officials said.
Explaining the Army's stance, a senior official said: "It is not as if Muslim personnel in the Air Force and the Navy do not handle sensitive information or deal with expensive equipment. It is better to avoid this in the case of the Army, especially the infantry regiments, because we are on the ground dealing with counter-insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and had [fought] wars with Pakistan. Men regardless of caste or creed conduct these operations. We do not think on these lines."
The committee said it was anguished by the "incorrect reports" on its communication to the armed forces. "The committee is fully aware and values the intrinsic importance of the armed forces, and there is no way that the committee would ever ask any question that may in any manner be even remotely prejudicial to the interests of the nation, which must always remain supreme," a statement said.
The committee denied that it had asked specific questions regarding the 1948 and 1999 Army operations. The Government issued a notification on March 9 last on setting up of the committee to collect information from all possible sources, including the Central Government, State Governments and a large number of other agencies to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community.
It sought information on the present participation of Muslims in various walks of life. It had visited 11 States and held discussions with a cross-section of people as well as the Governments.
Seeking to put to at rest the raging debate on a survey of Muslims in the army, Mukherjee told newspersons here, "there is no scope for controversy. The character of the Indian Army is not going to be changed." The Indian Army did not maintain any figure on the basis of caste, creed or religion and the survey by the committee was aimed at creating a database, he said.
"The Navy and the Air Force have already provided the data on the number of Muslims they have and we are taking up the survey in the Army, which had no such data till now," Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee said the recruitment in the Army was not made on the basis of race, caste, creed and religion. "It is open. It will remain secular and apolitical." The Defence Minister's statement followed the BJP and RSS's criticism of the government decision on survey of Muslims in the armed forces, which they feared would affect its secular character.