Jammu: The charge-sheet against Farooq Ahmed Mir, who is among the four government employees dismissed from service by the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday, shows that he was appointed “despite being a terrorist of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen and paid a salary while he was in jail”, officials said.
Mir, who has been sacked under the provisions of Article 311 of the Constitution, is a resident of Kupwara in north Kashmir and had exfiltrated in 1990 and received arms training at ISI-operated camps before infiltrating back after a year.
He was a top commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit before being arrested in 1991, the officials said.
He was arrested by security forces and remained under detention for two years to be subsequently released in 1993, they said, adding immediately after his release, Mir “made good use of his affiliation and influence within the secessionist-terrorist ecosystem to get himself appointed as a Class-IV employee in the Education department.”
Jammu and Kashmir was under Governor’s rule at that time.
Mir, a resident of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, was initially appointed to the Education department in 1994 and was later promoted to the post of a teacher in 2007, a time when the PDP-Congress government was in power.
“Propriety and sanity would expect that after joining the government, Mir would refrain from indulging in anti-national activities. But he openly began preaching and practising secessionist ideology and emerged as the most active and remarkably senior functionary of secessionist organisation Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) led by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani,” the official said.
The charge-sheet showed that Mir had gained prominence in Kupwara as a staunch supporter and sympathiser of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).
“Being a Pakistan-trained terrorist and having a significant position in the secessionist camp, bestowed him with huge powers. Like many such other entities, his name would instill fear and awe in common people and local administration,” an official said.
Continuing his “secessionist and terrorist incitation”, the officials said Mir played a major role in the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation and was openly propagating ‘Jihad’ against India and exhorting the youth to join terrorism.
A case under relevant sections of the law, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was registered against him at Kupwara police station on November 13, 2009.
“In this particular incident, he not only incited and provoked youth to join terrorist ranks but also hatched a criminal conspiracy with other secessionist elements to orchestrate large-scale violence in Kupwara.”
On July 23, 2010, the officials said “he instigated, incited and provoked an unruly mob to commit violence and leading the violent mob he made forcible entry in the police guard room at Kupwara district hospital and set the guard room on fire.”
In this connection, another criminal case was registered against him and others in police station Kupwara, they said, adding for his incorrigible unlawful behaviour, he was finally detained under the provisions of the Public Safety Act (PSA) in 2010 and lodged in Central Jail Kot Balwal, Jammu for a period of six months.
“The strange and sad state of affairs is that despite being detained under PSA and arrested many times, no disciplinary action was taken against him by the department. He paradoxically was never marked absent despite being in jail for six months for one occasion and was shown on duty and paid full salary,” the official said, adding this evidence shows the “influence and penetration of adversary” within the government system.
Not mending his ways, they said, Mir played a major role in the 2016 violent agitation that erupted after the killing of “poster boy of Hizbul Mujahideen” Burhan Wani and was at the forefront of mobilising mobs and instigating violence in Kupwara town.
“The actions of Mir were at a huge cost to human lives and property. Many young people were killed and many more got injured due to his incitation. Public and private property worth scores of crores got destroyed,” the charge-sheet reasoned.
“It is not a hidden fact that thousands of unscrupulous people, having affiliation with the secessionist-terrorist ecosystem and even the Pakistan-trained terrorists were appointed in government services blatantly throwing all norms to the winds.
