Prof, constable among 3 J&K govt employees sacked for terror links

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir administration sacked three government employees, including a professor and a policeman, for their alleged links with terror groups, officials said. The trio was terminated from services based on the recommendation of a designated committee constituted under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution that allows dismissal from service without an inquiry in the interest of the State's security.

Those sacked are Altaf Hussain Pandit, chemistry professor at Kashmir University, Mohammed Maqbool Hajam, teacher in the school education department, and Ghulam Rasool, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Hussain Pandit is 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 (1993).

He continued to be an active cadre of JeI and worked as a terror recruiter. Pandit 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 Kashmir University to join terror ranks, they added.

Hajam was also a terror over ground worker (OGW) and he used to radicalise people. 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 was working as an underground supporter of terrorists. He also acted as an informer to terrorists and used to tip-off terrorists.