Five Jammu and Kashmir government employees sacked over suspected terror links: Who are they?

Five more government employees in Jammu and Kashmir were terminated from their service by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday due suspected terror links.

After the sacking of the five employees, an official said the move aimed at targeting the roots of the “terror ecosystem and its infrastructure within government machinery”, news agency PTI reported.

Over the past six years, the LG administration has removed 85 government employees after they were discovered to be working with terrorist groups upon surveillance.

The employees have been removed under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution, the officials said. While Article 311 (2) protects civil servants from arbitrary dismissal, removal, or reduction in rank without a formal inquiry, the sub-clause c allows for the dismissal or removal of a civil servant without a formal inquiry.

This can be done if the President or the Governor is satisfied that it is not expedient to hold a formal inquiry in the interest of the security of the State.

According to officials, the five employees whose services have been terminated include Mohammad Ishfaq, a teacher; Tariq Ahmad Shah, a lab 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.

The dossier against the terminated employees, according to the PTI report, shows that Ishfaq has been appointed as Rehbar-e-Taleem in the school education department. He was confirmed as a teacher in 2013, but was allegedly working for Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), said the report.

Further, Ishfaq was reportedly in contact with LeT commander Mohammad Amin alias Abu Khubaib, who has been designated as a “terrorist” operation from Pakistan.

Ishfaq had been assigned an active operational role by the LeT, and had allegedly been tasked to kill a police officer in Doda in early 2022, PTI reported.

His activities were placed under surveillance by security and intelligence agencies, and regular monitoring revealed that he had received help in terror activities by certain Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of LeT. Following this, Ishfaq was arrested in April, 2022, before he could execute the killing.

Mir, who was regularised as an assistant lineman in 1996 in the PHE department, became an active OGW of the LeT in Bandipora's Gurez area, PTI reported

Tariq Ahmad, the lab technician, had been under the influence of terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen since a very young age, PTI reported. According to officials, Tariq's terror link surfaced during the probe conducted by the State Investigation Agency into the escape of Hizbul terrorist Amin Baba to Pakistan in 2005. Bhat, a field worker, had also been actively working with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Yousuf, a drive in the health department, had been in regular contact with terrorists, particularly Bashir Ahmad Bhat, a Pakistan-based terrorist.