Cops may book more than 100 govt employees for Kashmir protests

Jammu and Kashmir police are in the process of booking more than 130 state government employees under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on charges of directly and indirectly instigating the present unrest in the valley.

Jammu and Kashmir police are in the process of booking more than 130 state government employees under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on charges of directly and indirectly instigating the present unrest in the Valley.

Demonstrators hurl stones at policemen during a protest in Srinagar, against the killings in Kashmir region, on September 25, 2016.(Reuters File)

Most of these employees participated in stone pelting security forces following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. More than 90 people have died in clashes with security forces and over 10,000 security personnel injured in the stone-pelting incidents after Wani’s killing.

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The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, allows the state to detain a person without trial for at least six months and provides for imprisonment up to two years of those who jeopardise the security of the state. Police sources say over 300 people have been booked under the PSA in the current unrest.

The state police’s intelligence department and central agencies have compiled a list of J-K government employees who participated in pelting stone on security forces or instigated such incidents.

“Slowly but steadily, the Jammu and Kashmir government is acting against all those who were leaders of the stone pelting mob and they included some of the government employees as well,” said the official.

“These government employees will automatically stand suspended once they spend more than 24 hours in custody as per the rules,” a senior government official in the national capital said.

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The services of these employees can be terminated later.

The situation in the valley, where markets, schools and colleges still remain closed, is far from normal.

J-K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who will be in the national capital on Tuesday, may discuss steps to bring back normalcy in the valley with the central leadership.

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