Three More J&K Govt Employees Sacked Over ‘Terror links’
All the three accused who have already been jailed are police constable Malik Ishfaq Naseer, schoolteacher Ajaz Ahmed and junior assistant in Government Medical College (Srinagar) Waseem Ahmad Khan.

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday dismissed three more of its employees after charging them with having worked for two proscribed terror organizations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).
All the three accused who have already been jailed are police constable Malik Ishfaq Naseer, schoolteacher Ajaz Ahmed and junior assistant in Government Medical College (Srinagar) Waseem Ahmad Khan. They were “active terror collaborators,” involved in logistics, arms smuggling, and aiding terror operations against security forces and civilians, the officials said.
They said that the accused were terminated by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution, which allows dismissal without an inquiry “in the interest of national security”. Local news agency KNO quoted an unnamed government official as saying, “Having a mole and a dangerous terrorist associate in the ranks of police and other government departments is a huge threat, a continuation of which can be extremely expensive for the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.”
Pursuing a tough policy against what it sees as their anti-national activities, their being in the government service a threat to the security and integrity of the country or their violating Government Servants Conduct Rules, the Lt. Governor’s administration has in the past couple of years dismissed more than 75 of government employees including teachers, revenue officials, engineers and policemen.
The J&K government under Lt. Governor Sinha had in April 2020 constituted a Special Task Force (STF) for identifying and scrutinizing its employees involved in any activity detrimental to the security of the country or deemed as anti-national, evoking sharp criticism from various political parties, employees’ trade unions and human rights activists. It subsequently designated a separate official committee responsible for scrutinizing and recommending cases under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution.
Such dismissals have, however, come under severe criticism of the opposition parties. While reacting to the Lt. Governor administration’s latest action against three employees, former chief minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said that the “iron fist approach” can create more problems than solving any in J&K. She wrote on ‘X’, “In the days leading up to the sacred occasion of Eid three government employees have been terminated over alleged links to terrorism leaving their families in distress. Since 2019 hundreds of employees have been summarily dismissed without even a trial solely based on unproven allegations of so-called terror affiliations”.
She added, “While this iron fist approach may create a facade of normalcy, genuine sustainable peace can’t be achieved by inflicting suffering on people. Unfortunately the elected government watches completely unmoved like a mute bystander”.
Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of separatist Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned what he said was inhuman and arbitrary dismissal from government service of three more Kashmiri employees by invoking a law that cannot be challenged. He said, “This is despotism,” adding, “It’s the duty of the elected government to stand up to this injustice being periodically meted out to Kashmiri’s by dismissing them in such a manner , and safeguard their rights.”
In the recent past, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has questioned the arbitrary dismissal of government employees for their alleged terror links by Lt. Governor Sinha saying that the law says “every accused person is innocent until proven guilty” in the court.
In February this year when the Lt. Governor had terminated three government officials for their alleged terror links, Abdullah had told reporters at Katra near Jammu, “If there is proof against them and they have been given an opportunity to clear the allegations but failed… if such steps are taken without hearing them, the law says that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty.”
However, while reacting to Mufti’s charge that the Abdullah government is watching dismissals “completely unmoved like a mute bystander”, the ruling National Conference spokesman Imran Nabi Dar wrote on ‘X’, “In 2016, it was PDP-BJP government that terminated numerous government employees. Before that, late (chief minister) Mufti (Muhammad Sayeed) Sahab dismissed many employees under the label of 'dead wood.' Now, having lost power, you (Mehbooba Mufti) are raising strong objections. In reality, it was your government that set this precedent.”