2 cops among 11 employees sacked for terror links

New Delhi/Srinagar, July 10

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has sacked its 11 employees, including two sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and two from the police department, for allegedly working as over-ground workers for terrorist organisations, officials said on Saturday.

Those dismissed are from the Jammu Kashmir Police, education, agriculture, skill development, power and health departments, besides the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

Four of them are from Anantnag, three from Budgam and one each from Baramulla, Srinagar, Pulwama and Kupwara districts.

These employees were dismissed under Article 311 of the Indian Constitution under which no inquiry is held and dismissed employees can approach only a high court for relief. Officials said the UT’s designated committee for scrutinising such cases, in its second and fourth meetings, recommended dismissal of three and eight employees, respectively.

Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf, who are sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Salahuddin, were also dismissed from service for allegedly being involved in terror funding, the officials said. One of them was working with the SKIMS while the other was with the Education Department, they said.

They were involved in raising, receiving, collecting and transferring funds through “hawala” transactions for terror activities of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, the officials said. The three officials recommended for dismissal in the second meeting of the committee, included an orderly of the ITI-Kupwara. He was an over-ground worker (OGW) of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, they said. Besides him, there were two teachers from Anantnag. They were found involved in anti-national activities, including participating, supporting and propagating secessionist ideology of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), they said. The eight government employees recommended for dismissal in the fourth meeting of the committee included two police constables. Constable Abdul Rashid Shigan himself executed some attacks on security forces, sources said.

Naaz Mhammad Allaie, an orderly of the Health Department, was an OGW of the Hizbul Mujahideen with history of direct involvement in terrorist activities. Two dreaded terrorists were harboured by him at his residence, they said. Education Department employees Jabbar Ahmad Paray and Nisar Ahmad Tantray were Jamat-e-Islami ideologists involved in furthering the secessionist agenda unleashed by terror-sponsors from Pakistan. Shaheen Ahmad Lone, an inspector in power department, was found involved in smuggling arms for Hizbul Mujahideen. — TNS

Dismissal under Article 311

• Four of those dismissed from service are from Anantnag, three from Budgam and one each from Baramulla, Srinagar, Pulwama and Kupwara districts
• They have been dismissed under Article 311 of the Constitution under which no inquiry is held and dismissed employees can approach only a high court for relief