J&K Admin Sacks Four Employees Including Two Professors for Being "Anti-National"

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday sacked four employees including an administrative official and two university professors for their alleged role in “anti-national” activities, officials said.  

The Lt. Governor-led government of Jammu and Kashmir ordered the dismissal of these employees under Article 311 of the Constitution of India. 

“The activities of these employees had come to the adverse notice of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as they have been found involved in activities prejudicial to the interests of the security of the State,” the official statement read.  

The sacked professors included Dr Muheet Ahmad Bhat, a Scientist-D in the Post-Graduate Department of Computer Science at the University of Kashmir and Majid Hussain Qadri, who served as a senior assistant professor in the Department of Management Studies at the University of Kashmir. 

Assabah-ul-Arjamand Khan, an administrative officer who worked in the Directorate of Rural Development, Kashmir and is the wife of jailed separatist Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karatey has also been sacked. 

The government also sacked Syed Abdul Mueed, who worked as Manager, Information Technology (IT) at Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) and is the son of Pakistan-based United Jehad Council (UJC) head, Syed Salahuddin. 

Dr Muheet has been accused of being involved in propagating secessionist activities in the University of Kashmir, according to officials, “radicalising” the students for advancing the programme and agenda of Pakistan and its ‘proxies’.

Prof. Qadri, the officials said, has been allegedly associated with Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) outfit and had been earlier booked under Public Safety Act (PSA). “He figures in a number of FIRs registered u/s 302, 307, and 427, 7/27 RPC relating to various terror-related cases,” the statement read. 

Earlier in May, a professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Kashmir Altaf Hussain Pandit was also terminated by the government.

Salahuddin’s son Mueed has been accused of his alleged role in three militant attacks on the JKEDI complex at Sempora in Pampore. His presence in the Institution, the officials have observed, has “increased sympathy” with the “secessionist” forces.

Bitta Karate’s wife has been accused of being allegedly involved in providing false information for seeking a passport. 

“She has been found to have links with foreign people who have been indexed by the Indian security and intelligence to be on the payrolls of the ISI. Her involvement in ferrying consignment of money for funding anti-India activities in Jammu and Kashmir has also been reported,” the admin has alleged. 

The dismissal of government employees began last year after the LG-led admin constituted a special task force to monitor employees in the union territory. Nearly 40 employees have been sacked since then with many alleging that the decisions against them have been taken “arbitrarily”. 

The sacking of employees has drawn criticism from regional political leadership as well. who have termed the termination as an outcome of “misplaced priorities”. 

“Every citizen of India has his or her own rights. A son cannot be held responsible for his father or wife for her husband or a father for his son. Sad that kinship is used as a justification to sack people. This simply is not good. In all humility I register my disagreement,” senior politician Sajad Lone tweeted.