Many of the participants bring Hindutva into  this particular thread, which is irrelevant. We are discussing  the actions in battle of a particular group or sect. By just stating all are equal and we should be secular or difference is in devout and fanaticism is neither here or there.  I wonder if people read the entire thread and points raised ?  At places its a question of morale of a fighting group.  There are always traitors in all classes.Its there from history,but sometimes a class acts in a way or the majority of that sect acts then it is food for thought.

A good example on Sikh psyche was mentioned by Vijay, but there is a difference compared to the other minority as almost 12  to 15% of teh army is Sikh and we have lately had 2 army Chiefs who are Sikhs.At any given time almost 10-12 senior commanders are sikh while only 1 odd may be from teh other community. There is no discrimination against them, but they do not want to join the army. We can take a lesson from US army.

@ Chinmoy. You have raised some good points.  Probably you have a point that the state itself has not reached out to minorities. But I feel that minorities feel insecure  in a nation where they are in a minority or not the rulers. In any predominant muslim society like Iran or Pakistan there is no shortage of recruits for army or police. But in any other society like Burma, Lanka and  also  India there are grave reservations among this community. They are insular and dont come out. It is also in USA where it is seen that pan religious thought is paramount and not loyalty to US constitution.

What is the basis of a seperatism in Kashmir? There are so many deeper questions, but facts have to faced and not covered with cliches and inane statements. I do agree with you to a degree, but it takes 2 hands to clap

There is question of Muslims not joing army.  A member has aptly pointed out that the infantry regiments are caste based.  Some are composite like Punjab Regiment comprising of sikh and Dogra. There is small percentage of 'other Indian castes' also in every regiment. But mostly, a Dogra regement will employ dogra, sikh Regiment sikha, Gurkha Regiment Gurkhas and so on.  These regiments were formed on basis of the notion of martial race.  There were some Muslim martial races also that have been transferred to Pakistan. Punjab Regiment also had some battalions of Muslim Punjabis but these are also now in Pakistan.

Any one including Muslim may join the non infantry regiments like army Service Corps, Army Medical Corps, Signal Corps.   . 

Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:

There is question of Muslims not joing army.  A member has aptly pointed out that the infantry regiments are caste based.  Some are composite like Punjab Regiment comprising of sikh and Dogra. There is small percentage of 'other Indian castes' also in every regiment. But mostly, a Dogra regement will employ dogra, sikh Regiment sikha, Gurkha Regiment Gurkhas and so on.  These regiments were formed on basis of the notion of martial race.  There were some Muslim martial races also that have been transferred to Pakistan. Punjab Regiment also had some battalions of Muslim Punjabis but these are also now in Pakistan.

Any one including Muslim may join the non infantry regiments like army Service Corps, Army Medical Corps, Signal Corps.  

 

Thank you for the updates.  Some hitherto unknown things I came to know.

In Communist countries religion is not officially recognized as it goes against their philosophy and that is why officially China has no religion. It is  a different matter that Buddhist temples exist in China. Muslims in India are usually earning thru skills running in their families like weaving, plumbing , carpenting etc.. The muslims in India also keep  away from the army as members of similar professions from other religions. As stated earlier the army heavily draws from landed class and muslims are not  in this class but more in artisan class.Their numbers in Air Force and Navy will be still less as they call for higher degree of education then required by the army. Minorities everywhere are at the receiving end and to some extent it does act as an inhibiting factor in their participation in all activiites as they fear discrimination which to some extent does take place.

vijay wrote:

In Communist countries religion is not officially recognized as it goes against their philosophy and that is why officially China has no religion. It is  a different matter that Buddhist temples exist in China. Muslims in India are usually earning thru skills running in their families like weaving, plumbing , carpenting etc.. The muslims in India also keep  away from the army as members of similar professions from other religions. As stated earlier the army heavily draws from landed class and muslims are not  in this class but more in artisan class.Their numbers in Air Force and Navy will be still less as they call for higher degree of education then required by the army. Minorities everywhere are at the receiving end and to some extent it does act as an inhibiting factor in their participation in all activiites as they fear discrimination which to some extent does take place.

Generally I will agree with you. But in combat the experience of the US army of Muslims facing their co religionists in battle is not a happy experience. As I have written earlier the British never utilised Muslim troops in battles in Afghan wars and wars in NW Frontier where they utilised sikhs and Gurkhas. It is a moot point how a pure Muslim regiment will act when facing co religionists in a war with say Pakistan. Indian army cannot take that risk.

On going through various posts and write ups on the subject of why there are hardly any muslims serving in the army, I came across a very interesting observation by a commentator which of course is the personal view , since in a Hindu dominant society it is natural to use such names  

..The strong sense of Hindu dominance is  evident from the names of weaponry that Indian military assigns to them. For example indian missiles are named on hardcore Hindu figures such as Agni (missile), Pirthvi (missile), Arjun (tank), tejas (fighter jet), naag (missile), dhruv (helicopter), and many more. You will not find any muslim or for that matter christian or sikh name based weapon or squadron in Indian hindu driven military.

MG Singh wrote:

vijay wrote:

In Communist countries religion is not officially recognized as it goes against their philosophy and that is why officially China has no religion. It is  a different matter that Buddhist temples exist in China. Muslims in India are usually earning thru skills running in their families like weaving, plumbing , carpenting etc.. The muslims in India also keep  away from the army as members of similar professions from other religions. As stated earlier the army heavily draws from landed class and muslims are not  in this class but more in artisan class.Their numbers in Air Force and Navy will be still less as they call for higher degree of education then required by the army. Minorities everywhere are at the receiving end and to some extent it does act as an inhibiting factor in their participation in all activiites as they fear discrimination which to some extent does take place.

 

The possibility does not arise now, because no longer are caste or religion based regiments being formed. the existing ones also are now mixed regiments. 

Generally I will agree with you. But in combat the experience of the US army of Muslims facing their co religionists in battle is not a happy experience. As I have written earlier the British never utilised Muslim troops in battles in Afghan wars and wars in NW Frontier where they utilised sikhs and Gurkhas. It is a moot point how a pure Muslim regiment will act when facing co religionists in a war with say Pakistan. Indian army cannot take that risk.