After terminating services of over two dozen employees for their alleged involvement in terrorist-related activities, Jammu and Kashmir government has zeroed in on another 28 more such officials, who will be shown the door in coming weeks.
Sources told DH that intelligence agencies, who are working on identification of government officers/officials, connected to militancy or facilitating terror, directly or indirectly, have shortlisted 28 more such staffers, who have doubtful record.
“Most of the evidence of their anti-national activities has already been procured by the concerned agencies. Action is likely to be taken shortly after entire evidence is compiled and scrutinised by the legal officers so that it withstands the judicial scrutiny,” they said and added some of them are middle rung officers as well.
Sources said that majority of the officials under scanner for pro-terror activities were from Kashmir, while a few of them also belong to the Jammu region.
Over two dozen government employees, including senior officials, have been terminated since the formation of a special task force (STF), tasked to scrutinise cases of employees suspected of activities requiring action under Article 311(2) (C) of the Constitution.
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s two sons and former Hurriyat chairman late Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s grandson were among them.
Article 311 was extended to J&K after abrogation of its special status under Article 370 in August 2019. One of its provisions says that retention of a person in public service, if prejudicial to the security of the state, can be terminated without recourse to normal inquiry.
A senior officer from J&K General Administration Department (GAD) said that action against government employees who support militants or facilitate their activities was necessary to break the backbone of militancy.
“It has sent a loud and clear message to the officials and there are reports that the employees, who were earlier linked to terror, have dissociated themselves from the anti-national activities,” he said and added that there were still some elements against whom the government is acting by collecting evidence through the Intelligence agencies.
This is not the first time that J&K government has decided to act against employees on grounds of involvement in anti-national activities. When President’s rule was imposed in 1990, among the officials dismissed on such grounds was Naeem Akthar, senior leader of the People’s Democratic Party, who also served as a cabinet minister in the previous PDP-BJP government.
Similar action was taken in 1995 and 2016. Both times, however, the officials were reinstated later on court directions. After the split of the erstwhile state into two union territories (UTs) in August 2019, the total number of J&K UT employees is around 4,50,000.
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