The story of Indian Muslims in India's armed forces is far too nuanced to be understood by the bureaucratic inquisitiveness of the Rajinder Sachar committee. In the Indian Army, there are certain regiments with fixed community composition: the Sikh, Kumaon, Dogra and Jat regiments. For the rest of the army, as per government policy, all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or religion, are eligible for enrolment. Recruitment to the army is made from among the recruitable male population of each state as determined in the census.

At the time of Partition, the Muslim regiments which went to Pakistan were those comprising people belonging to areas that fell within the new nation's territory. The departure of this large chunk drastically reduced the percentage of Muslims in the Indian Army. Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers were given a choice and a large number of them who served in regiments with troops belonging to divided India opted to stay here.

Officers like Brigadier M. Usman and Major Anwar Karim were persistently invited by Pakistan with assurances of high ranks and posts but they preferred to stay back. There are many regiments, which, within their overall ...

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