THE Royal Navy has become the first of the three Armed Services to appoint a Muslim to one of its top ranks: Commodore Amjad Hussain became a rear-admiral yesterday.
Born in Pakistan, Rear-Admiral Hussain, 48, emigrated with his family to Britain when he was 5. He said that friends had expressed astonishment that the Royal Navy had promoted a Muslim to such a senior position. He will run the tri-service Defence Logistics Organisation in Bath.
“Some of my friends in other European countries have said it wouldn’t happen here. So I think that’s a mark of how far Britain has progressed,” he said.
The equivalent rank to rear-admiral in the Army is major-general and, in the RAF, air vice-marshal, but no Muslims have been promoted to those ranks. However, officers from ethnic minorities are gradually climbing the promotion ladder.
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Admiral Hussain, who has been in the Royal Navy for 30 years, was previously the commander of the naval base at Portsmouth.
“I have been really astonished at the number of people who are not acquainted with the military, who have expressed shock that we have a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy from a background like mine,” he said.
He has served in the fishery protection squadron and was a weapons engineer on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, which was deployed in the Gulf. He also worked on defence equipment planning at the MoD in Whitehall.
Admiral Hussain, who read engineering, science and business administration at Durham University, urged young people not to limit their ambitions. People from any background could succeed in the Armed Forces, he said.
“For those kids out there, I want to make the point that they shouldn’t let their futures be imprisoned by their own prejudices, and it’s too easy to do that today,” he said.