Removed from government job for terrorist activities

Srinagar: The grandson of pro-Pakistani Syed Ali Shah Geelani and a teacher from Doda was sacked from government service for allegedly supporting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials gave this information on Saturday. With the sacking of Geelani’s grandson Anees Us Salam and teacher Farooq Ahmed Butt, the number of employees fired from government jobs in the Union Territory in the last six months has risen to 27.

Earlier, those removed from service include two sons of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and tainted Superintendent of Police Devendra Singh. Singh was arrested along with a wanted terrorist and two others. He was dismissed by the Lieutenant Governor after examining the facts and circumstances under the powers conferred under Article 311 (ii) of the Constitution.

Employees dismissed under this provision of the Constitution can challenge their dismissal only in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Officials said that according to the dossier against Anees, son of Altaf Ahmed Shah alias Altaf Fantoush, three suspects based in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are in close contact with him. Anees’s father was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a terror funding case and is in Tihar Jail since 2017.

Anees was appointed Research Officer at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Center (SKICC) in 2016 under the then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. According to officials, Anees had gone to Pakistan between July 31 and August 7, 2016 and had met Colonel Yasir of the ISI, allegedly at Geelani’s behest.

After his return, Jammu and Kashmir had witnessed unrest on a scale over the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani. There was pressure on the then state government to appoint Anees and for this all the rules were kept in abeyance. Used to share that footage with the ISI across the border.

The other employee who was sacked is Farooq Ahmed Butt, a school teacher in Doda, Jammu. He was appointed on contract in 2005 and made permanent in 2010. Butt’s brother Mohammad Amin Butt is an active Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist who runs his activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.