Amid raging protests against the Centre's new military recruitment scheme, 'Agnipath', Lieutenant General Anil Puri, additional secretary, department of military affairs, warned that defence aspirants will be asked to give a certificate saying they were not part of the protests or vandalism against the scheme.
Observing that foundation stone of the armed forces is discipline, he said, "No space for arson, vandalism (in defence forces). Every individual will give a certificate that they were not part of protest or vandalism."
He said nobody will be allowed to join the forces without a "100 per cent" police verification.
He said all candidate will be asked to give a written pledge that they did not indulge in any arson or violence, and added that "There is no place for indiscipline in the armed forces."
He said nobody anticipated such widespread agitations against the scheme.
"If any FIR lodged against them, they can't join...They (aspirants) will be asked to write as part of the enrollment form that they were not part of the arson, their police verification will be done," he said, reports news agency ANI.
The government unveiled the scheme on Tuesday for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process. The scheme met with stiff opposition with people staging violent protests in various parts of the nation.
Meanwhile, the Army Navy and the Air Force on Sunday came out with a broad schedule for recruitment of soldiers under the Agnipath scheme while asserting that it is being implemented to bring down the age profile of the armed forces.
—With PTI inputs