Mufti Ismail has called for a setting up of a special Muslim regiment in the Army to take on Pakistan. (Representational image)Muslim cleric and former Malegaon MLA Mufti Ismail has called for a setting up of a special Muslim regiment in the Army to take on Pakistan. He also said that if the government accepts his demand, he will raise a force of 25,000 Muslim men who can be absorbed in this regiment.
Two days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a terror attack in Kashmir, Ismail said: “What Pakistan has done is heinous and anti-Islamic. If this violence is being done in the name of Islam and Muslims, I would request the Indian government to help raise a Muslim regiment that will fight this battle against Pakistan. I personally will help in ensuring the recruitment of 25,000 Muslim men from Malegaon alone in this regiment.”
Ismail had organised a protest in Malegaon on Friday to protest against the Pulwama attack.
The cleric-turned-politician had shot into the limelight after the 2006 Malegaon blasts. He managed to tap into local resentment to float a peoples’ front, Kaumi Mahaz. It had done particularly well in the 2007 municipal elections and Ismail was also elected as the city’s MLA in 2009. He contested the 2014 Assembly elections unsuccessfully on a NCP ticket.
