J&K: 3 Employees Including Kashmir University PRO Sacked for Being 'Anti-State'

Srinagar: The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have sacked three government employees, including the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the University of Kashmir, from the services for their alleged role in “anti-national” activities in the region.

The employees included an employee of the University of Kashmir, Faheem Aslam, a revenue official Murawath Hussain Mir and a police constable Arshid Ahmad Thoker. The Lt Governor-led administration ordered the termination of these employees under Section 311 (2) of the Constitution of India.

The latest terminations come after the government sacked two doctors earlier last month for their role in the alleged fabrication of evidence in the so-called ‘Shopian double rape and murder’ case, which caused a mass agitation in the valley in 2009.

The dismissals were carried out after the authorities led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced the formation of a Special Task Force (STF) in April 2021 to crack down on government employees suspected of being involved in ‘anti-state’ activities.

So far, over 50 employees have been terminated from government services since then as part of a major crackdown initiated by the administration in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and subsequent downsizing of the region into two Union territories.

Those terminated under the same provision include revenue officials, cops, doctors, government school teachers, university professors, civil servants and engineers.

The dismissals have, however, drawn condemnations from political leadership, who have accused the government of carrying out the terminations arbitrarily.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti slammed the move arguing that the action against the employees was being done by misusing Article 311, she added, was adding to the trust deficit amongst the people of Kashmir.

“The LG admin is institutionalising a permanent state of disintegration in J&K. Criminalising livelihood on preposterous reasons of ‘terror links’ at a time when the state is reeling from unemployment is only deepening the trust deficit. It is being done by misusing & invoking Article 311(2) b of the Indian Constitution,” she tweeted.

Aslam is the fourth employee from the University of Kashmir to have been dismissed from services. In May 2022, Altaf Hussain Pandit, a Chemistry professor at the university, was terminated by the government. In August, Dr Muheet Ahmad Bhat, a Scientist-D in the Post-Graduate Department of Computer Science and Majid Hussain Qadri, a senior assistant professor in the Department of Management Studies, were also sacked for allegedly propagating ‘secessionist activities’ at the University of Kashmir.