Kerala Muslim Jamaath Federation urges Muslim youth to become Agniveers & ensure Muslim representation in armed forces

Kerala Muslim Jama-ath Federation, an Islamic body in Kerala, issued a circular urging the Muslim youth to apply for the Agnipath scheme.

Calling the agnipath scheme ‘Attimari programme’ (coup d’etat), the circular in Malayalam said, “It is necessary to ensure ‘our’ (Muslim) representation in the armed forces. It also added that the last date to apply for the scheme is July 5 and all eligible students should apply for it. When the usage ‘coup’ triggered a controversy, the office of the Jamaath Federation justified it as a typographical error.

The circular dated June 24, also appealed to all Imams to spread the message through Jumma speech. The circular was issued by the state president of the federation, Kadakkal Abdul Azeez Moulavi and general secretary Adv K P Muhammad.

Kadakkal Abdul Azeez Moulavi later informed the media that the circular was intended to send more Muslims to the Indian armed forces.

The Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), an Islamic body in Uttar Pradesh, has also made a similar appeal to Muslims to become Agniveers. The AMP roped in Muslim clerics for the initiative.

“By becoming Agniveers, Muslim youths will be benefited in many ways. Maximum number of Muslims should apply for the scheme and serve the country,” said Shahid Kamran Khan, patron of AMP. He also added that AMP is promoting this at all levels and Imams would make special appeals to the masses in this regard on Friday.

Another cleric, Maulana Khairuddin, said he had shared the details of Agnipath scheme on social media asking people to seek more details from the portal : www.mod.gov.in.

Union Cabinet, on June 14, approved the ‘Agnipath’ scheme for Indian youth to serve in the armed forces. Under the Agnipath scheme, youth will be selected to serve in the armed forces for a period of four years. The youth who will be selected under the scheme will be called Agniveers.

The scheme is designed to provide an opportunity for the youth who are skilled, disciplined, motivated, keen to don the uniform and are in tune with current technological trends. It will also enhance the youthful profile of the armed forces and bring a necessary transformational shift of the Armed forces into more tech-savvy.

As protests broke out against the newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme, government officials on Thursday (June 16) brought out a fact sheet to clarify myths being spread about the programme.