Kashmir University professor among three employees terminated for ‘terror links’

Continuing its drive to weed out employees with terror links from the government, Jammu and Kashmir administration has sacked three employees, including a senior professor of Kashmir University (KU) for their alleged terror links.

Those terminated include Altaf Hussain Pandit, a professor of Chemistry at the KU, Mohammad Maqbool Hajam, a teacher in the School Education department and Ghulam Rasool, a constable in J&K police.

The terminations have been made under Article 311(2) (c) of the Constitution under which no inquiry is held and dismissed employees can only approach the high court for relief.

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.

“The Lieutenant Governor is satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and on the basis of the information available that the activities of Altaf Hussain Pandit, Professor in Chemistry Department, University of Kashmir are such as to warrant his dismissal from the service,” the order issued by Principal Secretary, General Administration Department, reads.

Pandit has been dismissed from the service with immediate effect along with Maqbool Hajam and Ghulam Rasool.

Prof. Pandit was reportedly associated with banned Jamaat-e-Islam in J&K and had crossed over to Pakistan for arms training in early 1990s. However, at that time he was affiliated with the JKLF and was arrested in 1993.

“After being released from the jail, Prof. Pandit remained an active cadre of Jamaat-e-Islam and was instrumental in organising stone-pelting and violent protests against the killing of terrorists in 2011 and 2014,” official sources said.

In 2015, he became an executive member of the Kashmir University Teachers Association (KUTA) and allegedly used the position to propagate secessionism among students.

Since 2021, over two dozen government employees, including grandson of late Syed Ali Geelani, two sons of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudin and tainted deputy superintendent of J&K police, Davinder Singh, who was chargesheeted by the NIA for providing support to the Hizbul, have been dismissed from the service.

However, it is for the first time that a professor of a university has been terminated on alleged terror links.

A senior official told DH that in coming months, more academicians having terror links will be terminated from the service. “A list of atleast a dozen professors, mostly from the KU, has been prepared and evidence is being collected against them. The universities in Kashmir are at the focus of the government as a section of employees are involved in anti-national activities in these institutions,” he revealed.