2 Jammu And Kashmir Government Employees Dismissed Over Terror Links

Two jailed employees of the Jammu and Kashmir government have been terminated from service for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ordered the termination of these employees facing charges of arms smuggling and links with the banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The sacked employees have been identified as Khursheed Ahmad Rather, a teacher, and Siyad Ahmad Khan, an employee in the Sheep Husbandry Department. Both residents of the Karnah and Keran areas near the Line of Control are facing charges of arms smuggling.

According to official sources, Rather was "actively involved in subversive activities aimed at harming the state and became an active conduit for terrorist activities sponsored by LeT."

"He played a deliberate and dangerous role in furthering the objectives of a terrorist network that is committed to destabilising the region and attacking the sovereignty of the Indian state," said an official.

He was actively involved in arms smuggling and concealing them as part of LeT's arms smuggling module.

According to a dossier, Khan is presently at the District Jail, Kupwara, after he was arrested on December 1, 2024.

In police records, he is listed as a terrorist associate and underground worker of the banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"Despite being a government employee, he chose to become a collaborator of LeT in the Keran area of District Kupwara with the ultimate objective of waging a war against the Union of India," the dossier read.

As part of a crackdown on government employees accused of anti-national activities, dozens of employees have been sacked in the Union Territory. The government is using extraordinary provisions to sack these employees while holding an inquiry.