Britain scraps plan for Sikh regiment

LONDON: Britain was mulling raising a regiment of Sikhs but has now abandoned the plan fearing that such a move would be branded racist, a media report said here
on Sunday.
    
The proposal to create the regiment was dropped by the Ministry of Defence after discussions with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).
    
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Sikh leaders had informed army recruitment officers that they could easily find enough volunteers to form a 700-strong regiment. However, the offer was rejected.
    
Lieutenant General Sir Freddie Viggers, the Adjutant General with responsibility for recruitment, is understood to have accepted the argument put forward by race commissioners at the CRE that creating a Sikh regiment would be divisive
and amounted to "segregation".
    
Leaders of Britain's 500,000 Sikhs were supportive of the idea of a new regiment, arguing that it would be no different from the Scots, Welsh and Irish Guards or the Royal Gurkha Rifles, which recruits exclusively from Nepal and which is regarded as a model infantry regiment.
    
"The creation of a Sikh Regiment has been considered by the Army policy staff responsible for both equality and diversity issues, who went on to consult with the Commission for Racial Equality," a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.
    
"Both agreed that grouping ethnic minorities runs counter to the Armed Forces philosophy that seeks to include, not exclude, and extend opportunities," he said.
    
The decision to shelve the plan was last night criticised by politicians, members of the Sikh community and soldiers, who claimed that the Army had fallen victim to political
correctness.