£90m campaign attracts just 15 Midland Muslims

Jan 7 2007

ARMY bosses are facing a Muslim recruitment crisis in the Midlands - after signing up just 15 new soldiers in a year.

Top brass had hoped to gain 1,200 new servicemen and women of all faiths from the region by April.

But despite a £90 million national recruitment campaign, just 15 Midland Muslims have joined the British army.

That's despite thousands of pounds being spent on initiatives in Birmingham, which has a 200,000-strong Islamic population.

Desperate recruitment chiefs had organised activity days, offered halal rations and allowed female Muslim soldiers to wear headscarves in a bid to boost numbers.

But with Britain still at war with insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army is struggling to sell itself to Islamic youths.

The total number of Muslim troops in the army is only 330 and many community leaders are not surprised by the low figure.

Dr Mohammad Naseem, 82, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "People are not being allowed to live how they want to live and that is creating a gap between the Government and many Muslims.

"Many are asking why they should go and fight for a country that does not respect their wishes. There is also a lot of anti-war feeling in the community and that is definitely a factor. Islamic soldiers can only go to war if they believe it is for a just cause."

In November, 40 young Muslims from the Ahmadiyyan Community Centre in Birmingham took part in a three-day Army training course.

Lieutenant Colonel John Moody later described the event at Gamecock Barracks, Nuneaton, as a 'success'.

The youths who took part came from the same community as Jabron Hashmi, a Birmingham soldier who became the first British Muslim to die in Afghanistan.

Pictures released last week of squalid barracks have further weakened recruitment hopes.