New Delhi: Fifty-seven government employees, including a college principal, professors, a public relations officer of Kashmir University, police personnel, and doctors, have been sacked in the past two years for allegedly “supporting militant activities”, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources in the security establishment, the move was to “dismantle the terror ecosystem” in Kashmir. Of the 57, the highest number — 21 — came from the education department. They included 13 school employees and eight university employees, including senior professors, lecturers, and principals, said the sources.
“During an inquiry, we found that an assistant professor was associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and was the point-person at Kashmir University for radicalisation and recruitment. Two teachers, both from Anantnag, were found to be participating in, supporting and propagating the secessionist ideology of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM),” said a source.
From the J&K Police, deputy superintendent of police-rank officers were among the 11 employees sacked, while three senior doctors were among the six fired from the health services.
Other sackings involved three from the revenue services, two each from the public works, Jal Shakti, and rural development departments, and one each from the agriculture, power development, forest, prisons, industries and commerce, and social welfare departments, and the Industrial Training Institute, Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre, J&K Bank, and the state cooperative bank.
According to sources in the administration, the designated J&K committee that is responsible for scrutinising and recommending cases under Article 311 of the Constitution, which pertains to the “dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Union or a state”, decided to sack the 57 employees.
The dismissals were under Article 311(2)(c), which allows action without an inquiry. Sources said they are part of a larger crackdown by the J&K administration.
The 57 employees also include two sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. One of them, Syed Ahmad Shakeel, was working at the Srinagar-based Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, and the other, Shahid Yousuf, was posted at the Jammu-based Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology. Police claimed both were involved in “supporting militant activities”, “working as overground workers”, “arranging weapons for terrorists”, and “terror funding”. Both were earlier arrested by the NIA in a terror funding case.
“We have found that there are people who have been given these posts through backdoor channels and have been involved in anti-national activities while drawing salaries from the Indian government,” a source said. “Many relatives of sympathisers held crucial positions in government services and were misusing the same. This crackdown is, essentially, to identify and root them out to clean the system.”
According to the J&K officials, a committee was constituted in July 2020 under the aegis of the then-CID chief and now-Director General of J&K Police R.R. Swain for scrutinising inputs, records and cognisable material against government employees, and this led to the dismissals.
A source in the J&K administration said the sacked police personnel were involved in attacks on security personnel, providing crucial information to terrorists and arranging weapons for them, leading to their sacking.
Other officials were allegedly found smuggling and transporting arms for the Hizbul Mujahideen, harbouring terrorists, helping Lashkar-e-Taiba, and facilitating terror funding, the source added.
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‘Stone pelting, recruitments declining’
A second source said the inquiry into the role of the 57 employees found that many of them were involved in “street violence and supported stone pelting”. The source added that in 1990, a lot of people got entry into government services, especially as class 3 and 4 employees, at “gunpoint”.
“Many of these employees provided funds to stone pelters. Many of the teachers and professors did jobs of radicalising others and getting them recruited in the terror ranks. Whenever there used to be a bandh call, employees would comply with the diktats. Also, we found that even active terrorists got government jobs,” the source said.
The source said that now, following the “clean-up”, stone pelting has gone down considerably, and the recruitment of youngsters in terror ranks is at an all-time low.
The source said many over-ground workers (OGW) who help militants and the militants themselves used to die in encounters earlier as well, but what has changed is the crackdown on the secessionist terror ecosystem.
“Also, killing terrorists by encounters was not as effective. One would die, but three more would join. But this clean-up from within our system has hit them hard. It has hit their backbone, which has dismantled the ecosystem,” the source said.
“Education suffered here. Schools would hardly be open. For 50-60 days, they would remain shut. For the first time after 1989, in 2022-23, there was a full academic calendar, when, every single day, schools were open and operating. That’s a big change,” the source added.
The source said Pakistan planted the “assets” in government departments, and they “played dual roles as journalists or government employees to peddle their narrative”.
“The ring leaders for handlers based in Pakistan were government employees. This government decided not to tolerate them. Many government employees were also supportive. Who does not want to sit at home and get a fat salary? That is what had plagued J&K,” the source said.
The government is now working on identifying employees engaged with drug cartels, the source said.
“We are now identifying those who are assisting cartels in smuggling. It is the next course of action,” the source added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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its obvious… for the bjp to impose their mindset they will surely destroy JK and thats what is happening.. they’re bringing officers from delhi and replacing locals.. and now recently last week it was in news that maharashtra bought land in JK for maharashtra bhavan… so it started the selling of JK and its treasures….. and no one can do anything.. if any JKite raises a voice, he/she is labelled either a supporter of terrorism or a member of some terrorist group that doesn’t even exist and fired from the job!! the loot maar of JK has started… and it’ll be destroyed soon. but off course, as usual, the truth will never be out for public of india..