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India's armed forces above religion and caste: Mukherjee Kolkata | February 15, 2006 10:15:06 PM IST Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday sought to put at rest a controversy over a survey of Muslims in India's armed forces, saying there was no scope for a headcount of the minority community in the services which are secular in character. "We don't keep any database on the basis of caste or religion. The forces are totally secular and apolitical and that character will be maintained," Mukherjee said. "There is no scope for controversy. The secular character of the Indian armed forces is not going to be changed and there is no recruitment on the basis of caste, race, creed or religion." A committee constituted by the Prime Minister's Office to ascertain the educational, economic and social status of Muslims in India had last year sought information on the number of Muslims in the armed forces and the posts held by them. The committee headed by retired judge Rajinder Sachar had made similar queries with more than 500 government institutions. But the query to the armed forces had been taken out of context by some quarters, committee officials said. The officials said replies to the committee's questionnaire had to be collated for the task that has been set out for the panel in its terms of reference. Military officials have said the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy had responded to the questionnaire but the army had refused to provide the data sought by the panel. (IANS) -- Peace be with you! Gabe Menezes. London, England