Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi, reacting to reports of Russia agreeing to discharge Indians cheated into serving at the warfront amid the Russia — Ukraine war, while welcoming the development, cautioned that a legislation must be put in place to prevent such a situation from arising where military-trained soldiers voluntarily fight for foreign countries.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Owaisi, who had first raised the issue of Indians being allegedly deceived into fighting for Russia on the frontlines, and sought their immediate return, made a clear distinction between the two scenarios. The current scenario, he said, was of gullible, poor Indians cheated into fighting on the frontlines by dubious agents who had sent them to Russia stating that they would only be engaged in domestic work. However, they were sent to combat zones. Some of these victims were either injured or killed.
On the other hand, Mr Owaisi expressed concern that those trained to handle weapons and explosives, should they voluntarily choose to fight in countries torn by civil strive, via private military contractors or otherwise, must be stopped from doing so. “The government should be proactive. There should be a law to prevent this from happening. If somebody wants to fight, then we should not allow it,” he said.
Touching upon the Agniveer scheme, Mr. Owaisi pointed out that 25% of Agniveers would be retained after serving for a period of four years, while the rest would be discharged from armed forces. “How do you stop them from going to places where there is civil strife? This could be dangerous for national security. There should be some regulation and a check,” he said.
It was in March this year that the family of Mohammed Asfan, a Hyderabadi who was allegedly trafficked to Russia, was informed that he was killed. The victim’s family then said that Asfan had travelled to Russia in the hopes of finding a better livelihood.
