(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Young Qatari women are also to be roped in for national service, but joining it wouldn't be made compulsory for them like it is for their male counterparts.
Currently, a special programme is being prepared to enrol Qatari women cadets for the military service, said the Minister of State for Defence Affairs.
"It wouldn't, however, be compulsory for women to join the national service like it is for men," said H E Major-General Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah.
Women cadets joining the national service will not be required to stay in camps overnight like the men are, said Al Attiyah, Al Sharq reported yesterday.
Their training will be in the morning hours after which they could go home. And they will be trained by women, he added.
Al Attiyah was inaugurating the second batch of national service at Al Shamal Camp yesterday.
Talking of the arms deals Qatar signed recently, the minister said the deals were just a tip of the iceberg.
"We are going to ink more such deals and the bigger ones in the near future. Our aim is to upgrade our defence systems and our armed forces," he said.
"We want to modernise our armed forces and defence systems. The vision of the Emir, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is quite clear in this regard," said Al Attiyah.
Talking of the national service, he said it is the duty of the Qatari youth to be part of it for the defence of their beloved country.
"We are happy the way the national service programme is progressing." The first batch was very successful and response to the second batch has been very good, said the minister of state.
This is an experimental stage and if the need be, the law of national service could be amended, said Al Attiyah.
Staff Brigadier Mohamed Musfir Al Ayadi, head of the National Service Centre, said in his address at the inauguration ceremony that the response to the second batch was so encouraging that some 3,000 Qatari youth had applied.
"We selected 1,017 of them and will take in the remaining applicants in the next batches," said Al Ayadi.
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