J&K unrest: 12 officers sacked

The Jammu and Kashmir government has sacked 12 of its officers, may act against 24 more and is closely watching 65 others for spearheading or participating in anti-India protests which have continued in the Valley for more than 100 days.

Some of those sacked have been detained under the State’s stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), which allows people to be jailed for six months without formal trial being initiated against them. An employees’ body immediately threatened an agitation against the government action.

After Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani’s encounter killing on July 8, more than 90 people have been killed and thousands wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces. Two policemen have also died in mob violence.

The list of these officers has been prepared based on a report from the J&K police. These are mid-level officers with departments such as education, health, civil supplies, revenue, agriculture, rural development, animal husbandry, accounts and treasuries, fisheries, forest, besides fire and emergency services.

The police have in the toughest crackdown in many years against leaders and activists of pro-freedom parties and their supporters arrested more than 8,000 people.

Official sources said that the administrative heads of the respective departments served formal termination orders on the 12 officers following a direction from the government.

They have been charged with "not only questioning the sovereignty and integrity of India but also violating the rules 14 and 20 of the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct Rules, 1971".

The action has been taken against these employees without holding the mandatory inquiry into the charges against them. However, the authorities while defending the action said that such an exercise was not possible "keeping in view the charged atmosphere and threat perception to witnesses."

This is the second time since 1989-90 when the Kashmiri separatist campaign became violent that government officials have been sacked over allegations of anti-national activities in the State.

In 1990, five officials were sacked for their pro-separatist stand and among them was incumbent education minister Naeem Akhtar. The action against Mr. Akhtar, then a deputy commissioner in the excise department, and others had led to a three-month-long strike by government employees in Kashmir. Earlier in 1986, then governor Jagmohan Malhotra had also sacked a number of government officials on the same charges. One of them, a teacher, later came to be known as prominent separatist leader Prof. Abdul Gani Butt.

Meanwhile, the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) has threatened to launch an agitation unless the government reinstates the sacked employees.

"The number of sacked employees exceeds 12. It is about 40. The government is crossing all limits of suppression. It will get nothing out of it. All the sacked employees are lower-rung employees and we will protect their interests at any cost," said EJAC president, Abdul Qayoom Wani, in a statement.

He accused Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government of trampling the rights of people particularly employees and said that the EJAC will convene an emergency meeting of its office-bearers to decide the future course of action.

He asked, "How can you sack an employee without following the proper procedure It is harassment and a move to cow down the employees who are also a part and parcel of the society."

He alleged, "The astute and timid government has been pursuing a silent and poisonous agenda. By sacking lower-rung employees this government has virtually stabbed their families. We will defend the rights of these employees at any cost."