Even within the IAS, Muslim presence at the higher levels is missing: of the 83 Secretaries at the Centre, not one is a Muslim. Animal Husbandry Secretary Mohammed Hakeem retired last July and another senior IAS officer S Y Qureshi joined the Election Commission.

Education can’t be the only reason, says Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who retired from the IAS in 2005. Saying that he personally never experienced any bias, Habibullah, who has been director of the IAS academy in Mussoorie, says: “Low representation of Muslims in the government is a complex issue that goes beyond education levels in the minority community. I think it has got to do with the minority syndrome, where Muslims do not aspire for the all-India services presuming there will be bias against them.”

In the Indian Police Service (IPS), too, the story is similar: Muslim representation is around 3.39 per cent. The IPS Civil List 2006 (as on January 1) shows that there are 109 Muslim officers of a total of 3209 officers.

The seniormost Muslim police officer is CISF Director General SIS Ahmed. Ahmed takes strong exception on security officers being identified on religious lines. “I am a police officer, what is it got to do with my being a Muslim or not,” he said.

Significantly, there is no Muslim at the rank of Joint Secretary and above in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the country’s premier external intelligence agency. Officer Asif Ibrahim heads the Delhi desk of the Intelligence Bureau.

... contd.