Pak Army Major Forced To Retired Over Beard

[RISING SUN]

When will this madness stop among us? After reading 4 pages I don't have the courage to read more.

 

[jaibi]

shoild be false news



right, what if a sikh becomes a major and refuses to cut his beard?

I agree that a person should be able to keep a beard but a sikh is an ethnic minority a Muslim soldier in the Pak army is not. Secondly, the beard for a sikh is a part of not only their religious identity but also their ethnic identity. Thirdly, the beard is not an obligation according to many interpretations of Islam but a choice so there is no obligation which is present for a person of the Sikh faith (though the person should not have been forced to retire because he chooses to have a beard). Fifthly, the Army as an institution is highly pervasive in nature; this is true for ALL ARMIES of the world: there is a high degree of social control that the army exerts over the individual (this is one of the main reasons why there is such a prolonged and rigorous training regiment; it is not just for physical and mental strenght but a re-socialisation of the individual) in such a highly controlled environment it is normal to see individuals who resist the institutional norms to suffer e.g. during the Zia era secular minded officers were marginalised; Turkish army is prejudiced against officers having multiple wives and wife's who wear the scarf, to quote some examples from the Muslim world.

Finally, it is wrong if the person was dismissed due to his religious attire but maybe this is not the complete story so let's not jump to conclusions.