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LG: Appropriate legal action will be taken against staffers having links with terrorism
On Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir bank dismissed the services of Sajad Ahmad Bazaz, chief manager of the bank, accusing him of having “links with terror ecosystem”
Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday defended dismissal of government employees who support terrorism and said the administration would not hesitate in taking appropriate legal action against such persons.
On Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir bank dismissed the services of Sajad Ahmad Bazaz, chief manager of the bank, accusing him of having “links with terror ecosystem”.
Referring to Article 311 of the Constitution which deals with dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of civil employees in the Union or state governments, he said the article was included “to take stern action against those who are a threat to the nation”.
“We are following the policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and the J&K administration is determined and committed to take stringent action against those associated with terror ecosystem or facilitating terrorist and secessionist activities,” he said in an official statement.
He said a 360-degree security mechanism has been strengthened in Jammu division and all efforts are being made by the security grid to eliminate the terrorists’ support system.
Mehbooba alleges selective targeting of Kashmir employees
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday alleged that Kashmiri employees were being selectively terminated by wrongfully dubbing them as ‘terror sympathisers’, a day after J&K bank chief manager Sajad Ahmad Bazaz was dismissed from service.
Mufti, in a post on X, while tagging the dismissal news of Bazaz, said the act was aimed to frighten Kashmiris into submission.
“Selectively terminating Kashmiri employees by dubbing them as terrorist sympathisers and pro-ISI has been normalised. The accused isn’t given a chance to prove his innocence with the government acting as judge and jury. This hooliganism is meant to frighten Kashmiris into submission,” she said.
Official sources claimed that the current bank management seemed to have no clue that Bazaz was “one of the most important Pakistani assets, secretly working for ISI and terror outfits”. “After abrogation of Article 370, the top investigators were probing link of deep ISI assets within the terror ecosystem and his name cropped up. After months-long painstaking investigation, they were in for surprises. The investigators stated that Bazaz, originally of Batamaloo Srinagar, was planted in J&K bank in 1990 by Pakistan ISI. His appointment was on the post of cashier-cum-clerk. In 2004, he was suddenly given a jump to a position that was highly suspicious but it did not raise any eyebrows because of the then larger and deeper subversion in the system,” they said.
“Sajad Ahmad Bazaz is a critical component of the overall terror ecosystem carefully nurtured by the ISI and terror outfits,” they added.
Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) lashed out at Mehbooba Mufti for coming in defence of what it said were ‘terror sympathisers’.
In July, the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) government terminated the services of three government employees, including the public relations officer of Kashmir University, for alleged anti-national activities under Article 311 of the Constitution. As many as 52 employees’ services have been terminated by the government after the special status of J&K was revoked in 2019.
The dismissals started after the government on April 21, 2021 set up a Special Task Force to identify and scrutinise the cases of employees involved in any case related to posing a “threat to the country’s security or anti-national activities”.
