More Muslims should be recruited in police, army: clerics

Pressing for greater representation to Muslims in police and armed forces, Islamic scholars and clerics from across the country on Wenesday supported "united" action by the community on development issues, such as education.
 
A proposal to set up legal aid cells to help "innocent members of the community who are implicated in fake cases" was also mooted at a workshop "Itthad-e-millat" of clerics and Muslim scholars from Mumbai, Delhi, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Etah and other cities, eminent Muslim writer Hasan Kamal said here.
 
"We are not against the arrest of Muslims who are involved in terrorist activities but in cases where innocent young men are being picked up, we will provided necessary legal assistance," he said.
      
The community will also build pressure for immediate implementation of the Sachchar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Committee recommendations, Kamal said.

"We have agreed upon setting aside the contentious issues and will focus on the need for increasing Muslim participation in the police and the army," he said, adding that the percentage of Muslims in government services has gone down to 1.5 per cent from the earlier 35 per cent.
 
"We also want to remove hurdles that lie in the education of the community members. All the participants have whole-heartedly agreed to this," he said.