'Agenda to Disempower Muslims': Two More J&K Employees Sacked For 'Security Reasons'

New Delhi: Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has accused the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha of pursing “a wider agenda to disempower Muslims” of Jammu and Kashmir after two government employees were sacked on October 30 for security reasons under Article 311 of the constitution.

“First they (Muslims) face marginalization through biased reservation policies as revealed by recent disclosures on reservation certificates in J&K and now they endure wrongful dismissals with the judge, jury and executioner all on one side,” Mufti, who is also the Peoples Democratic Party president Mufti said in a post on X on Thursday.

The LG-led administration has terminated dozens of government employees after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated and downgraded into a Union territory by the BJP-led Union government in 2019.

Also read: J&K Admin to Deny Security Clearance, Passports to Kashmiris Accused of Stone-Pelting, Other Crimes

According to official data, at least 80 government employees including police officials have been sacked using Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution which denies the chance of fair representation to the targeted employee “in the interest of the security of the state”.

The issue also figures in the 2024 J&K assembly election manifesto of the ruling National Conference which had vowed to “address and rectify” the “unjust” policy on being elected to power.

Responding to a question, chief minister Omar Abdullah said that the two teachers should get a chance to make a representation while claiming that “most” employees dismissed from service under Article 311 were reinstated purportedly after the courts could not find anything incriminatory against them.

“Everyone should be given a chance to clarify their position. In most cases, the sacked employees have been reinstated. It is better to use the legal way to punish those who are truly guilty while dismissing employees merely on the basis of suspicion is harmful for all of us,” he told reporters outside the assembly complex on Thursday.

Abdullah’s remarks came after the two teachers working in J&K’s school education department and identified as Ghulam Hussain and Maajid Iqbal Dar, both residents of Rajouri district in Jammu, were dismissed from service on Thursday.

An order issued by J&K's general administration department said that the LG was “satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and on the basis of the information available, that the activities of (Hussain and Dar) …. are such as to warrant (their) dismissal from service”.

The one-page order however didn’t specify more details about the “activities” and “information” that led to their dismissal.

Abdullah in midst of internal storm

In the past, the LG administration has cited terrorism and criminal cases filed against the targeted government employees to justify their termination from the service.

Even though the termination of the employees using Article 311 is beyond the remit of the chief minister of the Union territory of J&K, the issue is likely to add to the troubles of Abdullah who finds himself in the midst of a new storm led by his own party leaders.

After completing one year in office, Abdullah has been battling criticism over undelivered poll promises. Two senior NC leaders and Lok Sabha parliamentarians have spoken out against the policies of the chief minister. The leaders have blamed Abdullah for alleged governance failures and backtracking on some of the promises made by their party ahead of the assembly election last year.

The ruling party had promised to provide 200 free units of power to all the households in Jammu and Kashmir in the election manifesto but Abdullah-led government has disclosed that the policy was meant for poor families and it would be rolled out after solar rooftops are installed on their houses.

In an event earlier this month, the Lok Sabha (Anantnag-Rajouri) MP of National Conference and senior tribal leader Mian Altaf Larvi flagged the issue of the alleged governance failures in Jammu and Kashmir under Abdullah.

“The people in the government, no doubt, will have to improve their performance as far as governance is concerned,” Larvi said, while regretting lack of progress on the resolution of “political issues” promised by the NC in its election manifesto.

Larvi has also raised questions about the performance of the ministers in Abdullah’s cabinet. The remarks by the party stalwart prompted Abdullah to reach out to the “fatherly figure” over phone while “requesting” him to discuss such issues away from public gaze, it is learnt.

Earlier, senior NC leader and Srinagar parliamentarian Syed Aga Ruhullah took on the chief minister after the latter appeared to have backtracked on the issue of the installation of power meters in Jammu and Kashmir.

The remarks triggered a war of words between the Srinagar parliamentarian and the chief minister – with Larvi taking the side of Ruhullah while advising the chief minister to exercise caution while speaking in public.

Reacting angrily to Larvi’s remarks in support of Ruhullah, Abdullah who has faced accusations of sidelining the party’s old guard sought to belittle the Srinagar MP earlier this week by saying that there was a “difference of the sky and the earth” between the two leaders.

Ruhullah has also accused the chief minister of betraying his party’s political ideology by going soft against the BJP-led Union government on the issue of restoring J&K’s special constitutional privileges after coming to office last year.

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