Ghulam Nabi Azad attacks J&K administration for suspending employees amid terror crackdown

Amid Jammu & Kashmir's massive crackdown on terror sympathisers and corrupt officials, veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad hit out at the J&K administration on Thursday saying that it was targetting one of the biggest industries in the Union Territory. Addressing a program, Azad said that not only had the J&K administration stopped giving employment, but was now focussing on expelling people from their jobs. 

“Government Jobs is the biggest Industry in Jammu and Kashmir for every section and community. They haven’t only stopped giving jobs but started expelling people from jobs every week. An obsolete law was made that any non-performer will be sacked (Deadwood); by that 2 people were expelled in 20 years. But now 20 people are expelled in 2 days. It seems that this Government's work is not to give jobs, but to expel people from jobs," said Ghulam Nabi Azad. 

J&K administration's crackdown on employees with terror links

Jammu and Kashmir's crackdown on government employees came to the fore after the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led government designated a committee to scrutinise shreds of evidence that qualified for Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution of India. The said that the provision enumerates that a government employee can be dismissed without a departmental inquiry when the President or Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that it is in the interest of the security of the state. 

In its first big decision, 11 government employees, including two sons of one of the most wanted Hizbul terrorist Syed Salahuddin, were sacked from their government jobs on July 10. Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf were said to be involved in terror-funding activities and were involved in raising, receiving, collecting, and transferring funds through Hawala transactions for the terror activities of Hizbul Mujahideen.

In October, the J&K administration sacked eight more employees for their alleged complicity in corruption and misconduct. Implementing its ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption policy, this action was taken under article 226 (2) of the Jammu Kashmir Civil Service Regulations.

On November 28, over two dozen more government employees were named for alleged terror links. The intelligence agencies in the Union Territory traced their direct links to anti-national activities, at a point in time, and accused them of operating as OGWs (overground workers) for insurgent groups, spewing terrorism, and not for the Indian Armed Forces. 

Image: PTI