Well...if India Today did get this information, the question is from where?? It is clear that except for the GOI, no other entity including India Today magazine has the resources nor the authority to conduct such a census of the armed forces...
So what is the basis for this number then?
Any such numbers thrown around MUST have a reference...in the case of India today, it claims "the army"...without any clarification of who in the army with the legitimate authority nor links to such a census...
The dawn report even though an editorial quotes the defence minister Pranab Mukherjee (2006)....a direct reference!
Also, it is not the responsibility of the army, navy or air force to defend random accusations and numbers...they simply dont acknowledge the figure is how i take this.
It is evident that the numbers you have been quoting (even though referenced by some reputed news sources) have no point of origin!
With such a weak basis of argument, unfortunately we cant continue down this path with the implications in your previous posts....
These are not random accusations and numbers nor did the Army relinquish its responsibility in commenting when there was a call for census along religious lines to determine whether the pitiful situation of Muslims representation in India's other Institutions was ever present in the Army as well during the course of the writing of Sachar Report.
At any rate it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense to issue a clarification on the veracity of figures quoted by a leading newspaper in India as part of its Editorial piece when that piece and the Minority Report (as it is titled) goes on to be referenced by other reputed news sources; not by any standard practice that I know of either in Legal terms or in terms of Administrative Policy is 'silence' or the 'failure to acknowledge' taken as a rebuttal of asserted facts.
I would've even given credence to the argument that you present had the Ministry of Defense and the Indian Army remained silent throughout the course of this debate but they did not; their failure to issue a clarification on this only adds credibility to the asserted claim it does not, however, take away credibility from it.
Furthermore, the argument wasn't just about the Indian Army, it was about representation in the Indian State Security Apparatus of which one component is the Indian Army therefore a look at the Indian Police Services and Security Agencies like the CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB and other agencies some of which have been stationed and operated in Occupied Kashmir especially the CPRF and the BSF might be worthwhile.
The Sachar Report on page 168 categorically mentions that in the above mentioned Security Agencies (and other agencies excluding the Armed Forces) the share of Muslims is around 4%.
Additionally on page 172 the Sachar Report reads as :
Andhra Pradesh is the only State that shows a representation of Muslims in the Home Department more than their population share; all other states have huge deficits in the presence of Muslims in their police forces.
With the overall share being stated (on the same page) as 6% of the Police Constables with the share in the office cadre being even lower.
I was under the impression that because Kashmir is a Muslim Majority Region; the Muslims would be in the Majority in the Police Forces as opposed to having 'huge deficits' proportionate to their population.
Either way the point still stands - Muslims in Kashmir are neither joining your Police nor your Paramilitary Forces and if the findings of India Today are to be believed (which have not been rebutted by the Defense Ministry who seems to have an Opinion about the Issue) then neither are they joining the Indian Armed Forces.