JK govt sacks Kashmir University professor, others for alleged terror links

A Kashmir University professor was among the three people sacked by the union territory administration on Friday for their alleged links with terror groups, officials said.

Altaf Hussain Pandit, a chemistry professor, was terminated following a recommendation of a designated committee constituted under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution that allows dismissal without an inquiry in the interest of the State's security.

With these three fresh terminations, the total number of government employees sacked using the special provisions in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 37 since last year.

Hussain Pandit was actively associated with the proscribed Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI). He had crossed over to Pakistan for terror training and remained an active terrorist of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front for three years before his arrest by the security forces, sometime in 1993.

He continued to be an active cadre of JeI and worked as a terror recruiter. He was instrumental in organising stone pelting and violent protests over the killing of terrorists in 2011 and 2014, the officials said.

In 2015, Hussain Pandit became an executive member of the Kashmir University Teachers Association and used his position to propagate secessionism among students. He was instrumental in motivating three students of the university to join terror ranks, they added.

The two others that were sacked are Mohammed Maqbool Hajam, teacher in the school education department, and Ghulam Rasool, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Hajam, a teacher of the school education department, was also a terror over ground worker (OGW) and he used to radicalise people, they said.

He was part of a mob which attacked a police station in Sogam and other government buildings, officials said, adding that despite being a government teacher, he was always found to be involved in terror activities.

Rasool, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, was working as an underground supporter of terrorists.

He also acted as an informer to terrorists and used to tip-off terrorists and OGWs about anti-terror operations. He used to leak the names of police personnel involved in anti-terror operations, the officials said.

Rasool was also in touch with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Mushtaq Ahmad alias Aurangzeb, who has crossed over to Pakistan, they added.

"The recent crackdown is part of the government efforts to detect and mitigate terror elements within the system who somehow managed to sneak in during the previous regimes," a senior official said.