Doing more with the military
Milligazette
1-15 September 2013
A leading
military school in the country recently compiled the list of cadets that had
entered its portals ever since it was founded pre-Independence. Of 2896 cadets
that have entered its precincts since Independence, only 28 had Muslim names.
You can do your maths; but the statistic bespeaks of several things. One is
certainly that the odds appear to be stacked against our young boys for they
perhaps not only do not know of such opportunities, but are also sloven in
contesting for them and finally are unable to clear the admission tests. There
are several reasons that can explain this away: poor if improving economic and
literacy levels, low standards of schooling that prevents their being
competitive and perhaps opp
ortunities
elsewhere such as in the Gulf, that keeps them away from chasing down such
vacancies. However, the statistic also suggests the levels of engagement of the
Muslim community with the security sector in the country.
In light of this
it was heartening to read that 10 young lads from AMU have cleared the National
Defence Academy test. This can be attributed in part to the leadership team in
AMU comprising former military men: the VC and Registrar. It remains to be seen
if this becomes a trend. If so it would increase the number of Muslim names on
the merit lists that are usually scrutinised by some organisations with
religious affiliation, including sometimes this publication (Milligazette), for
the presence (and absence) of Muslims. While there is much ‘halla bulloo’ over
Muslims cracking the civil services, such as the inspiring Kashmiri doctor
topping the exam recently, those entering into the military and the security
services, such as the paramilitary, receive less accolade. There is a case for
a concerted attempt by the community to redress this under-representation.
The earlier
explanations for lack of Muslim representation in the security services
including the military, cannot work forever. Some of these such as the
invidious suggestion that Muslims are ‘kept out’ due to some unacknowledged
policy of covert discrimination does not merit serious attention. A fact needs
acknowledging that the community has neglected this avenue of social mobility,
economic opportunity and service to the wider nation. At Independence and soon
thereafter, there was an exodus of the Muslim elite and middle classes for the
‘land of the pure’ and further westwards to the extent that curiously the
largest community of South Asian language speakers in the US today comprises
those speaking Urdu. Even if a proportion of these exited from Pakistan, a good
number are former Indian Muslims, no doubt largely of ‘Ashraf’ lineage, who
have abandoned their larger community that includes the ‘underclass’ of ‘Arzal’
and ‘Ajlaf’, for better climes. The next destination soon thereafter has been
the Middle East, to which Indian Muslims have headed but only to be treated
with mildly condescending tolerance. In effect, Indian Muslims have not focussed
on opportunities that have been theirs for the taking in their neighbourhood –
the ‘low hanging fruit’. Therefore, ‘Muslims keeping away’ better explains the
speculative figure, not officially acknowledged, that there are about 29000
Muslims in the million-strong Indian Army.
Being frank
about this can help redress the scale of underrepresentation. The onus is on
the community to sign up for a life in uniform. There are several advantages in
doing so. The foremost is that some of the largesse, that is indeed the defence
budget amounting to over Rs 250 crores, will get channelled into Muslim homes.
This has potential to lift economic indices of the community. An example is the
density of Muslim servicemen and ex-servicemen in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan.
They are considerably better off than most other Muslim communities. The
advantages that certain other
communities, such as the Sikhs and mountain folk, that have lent their shoulder
to the national security enterprise can then be shared more widely across the
land.
Second, there is
benefit for the security sector in that a greater representativeness is made
possible by entry of Muslims in greater numbers. Knowledge and understanding
occurs that translates as operation gains. This can be useful when, say, the
Army is deployed in Kashmir or the paramilitary is deployed in Muslim majority
areas. That ignorance fuels apprehension is well appreciated. With Muslim
compatriots in their midst dispelling any negative ‘Muslim’ stereotype, the
paramilitary and military would be more mature, restrained, in their response
to violence.
Finally, the
school list had the pre Independence era entries. The first 28 Muslim names on
that list were among the first 100, implying that close to one third of the
cadets were Muslims. From the number cadets with ‘Khan’ as surname it can be
surmised that these belonged to the erstwhile ‘martial races’ in which the
Pathan and Punjabi Musalman communities, now in Pakistan, were prominent. The
fact is that today the figure has fallen to less than one-fiftieth of that. The
martial race theory having been jettisoned along with colonialism, it is time
that Muslims came out of the shadows of Partition. The fact remains that for
some thousand years Muslims had a say in the security of the subcontinent. They
have to gain a seat at the national security high table by dint of placing
their sons in harm’s way. On a lighter note, from the over-representation of
the community in prisons – reportedly at 19 per cent – for reasons not gone
into here, it is clear that there is sufficient energy, initiative and courage
in youngsters that can potentially be channelled into martial pursuit to the
betterment of all – the individual, community and nation.
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