Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday terminated the services of five more government employees for suspected terror links.
The LG administration has since 2020 sacked 85 government employees “after it was found during surveillance that they were working for terrorist groups”.
“The move is aimed at targeting the roots of the terror ecosystem and its infrastructure within government machinery,” an official said.
The dismissed employees include Mohammad Ishfaq, a teacher; Tariq Ahmad Rah, a laboratory technician; Bashir Ahmad Mir, an assistant lineman; Farooq Ahmad Bhat, a field worker in the Forest department; and Mohammad Yousuf, a driver in the Health department, officials said.
These employees were terminated under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution, they said.
The provision allows for the dismissal or removal of a civil servant without a formal inquiry if the President or the Governor is satisfied that it is not expedient to hold the inquiry in the interest of the security of the State.
According to the dossier against the terminated employees, Mohammad Ishfaq, who was appointed as Rehbar-e-Taleem in the School Education department and later confirmed as a teacher in 2013, was allegedly working for Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
“He was in regular contact with LeT commander Mohammad Amin alias Abu Khubaib, who is designated as a ‘terrorist’ operating from Pakistan.
“Ishfaq was given an active operational role by the LeT, and he was tasked to execute the killing of a police officer in Doda in early 2022,” officials said.
They said Ishfaq’s activities were put under surveillance by security and intelligence agencies, and “sustained monitoring revealed that he was helped in the terror activities by certain Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of LeT”. He was arrested in April 2022 by the J&K Police before he could execute the plan.
Tariq Ahmad Rah, a lab technician, came under the influence of terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen right from a very young age. According to officials, Rah’s terror link emerged during the State Investigation Agency (SIA) probe into the escape of Hizbul terrorist Amin Baba to Pakistan in 2005.
“Rah ensured the escape of the terrorist across an international border. Due to his conspiracy, Amin Baba successfully crossed over to Pakistan and is currently operating from there for carrying out terrorist activities in India,” the officials said.
Bashir Ahmad Mir, Assistant Lineman, was regularised in 1996 in the PHE department. Despite being a government employee, “Bashir became an active OGW of LeT in the Gurez area of Bandipora.
“Bashir was covertly facilitating terrorist activities in the hinterland of Gurez since long by guiding the movement of terrorists, providing logistical support, sharing information on the movement of security forces and providing shelter to terrorists,” the officials said.
Farooq Ahmad Bhat, a field worker in the Forest department, was “actively working with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen”.
He was also informally working as a personal assistant of a “former MLA with ties to Hizbul Mujahideen”.
Mohammad Yousuf, a driver in the Health and Medical Education department, “was in regular contact with terrorists, particularly Bashir Ahmad Bhat, a Pakistan-based Hizb terrorist”.
“On the directions of Bashir, Yousuf established links with Hizb cadres and operatives sitting in Pakistan and entrusted with core tasks, including procurement of arms and ammunition and transporting funds in the areas of Ganderbal District,” the officials said.
On 20th July 2024, police intercepted a vehicle in which Yousuf and his associate Eashan Hamid were travelling and “recovered one pistol, ammunition, a grenade and Rs five lakh”.
