Kuwait’s Defence Minister Hamad Al Jaber has ordered the suspension of army plan to train the country’s first female soldiers, after public discontent demanding abidance to the Islamic law.
Al Jaber, Gulf News reports citing local Al Rai newspaper, made the decision at a meeting with a number of Muslim clerics who stressed the necessity of heeding religious rules in allowing women to do jobs in the army and called for seeking opinions of the country’s Iftaa Authority and Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments).
The minister reportedly indicated that he wants to hear the opinions of religious leaders and promise to take them into consideration and comply with them.
“Abidance by rules of our Islamic religion is an area where there is no room for whims or personal preferences,” he said.
Last month, the army launched the recruitment of women in the armed forces. The move however met opposition with critics arguing that the enlisting contradicts the Islamic Sharia law and Kuwaiti traditions, the media report.
Eligible applicants were required to be Kuwaiti women holding university, diploma and secondary school degrees aged 18 to 26 years and be physically fit, of good conduct and pass a personal interview.
Kuwait postpones training of first cohort of female recruits in army
