Continuing action to bust those linked with terror organisations or their activities, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday dismissed two government employees for their alleged links with terrorists. The LG has so far removed 80 such government employees in the past 5 years for their alleged links to terror related activities through Article 311 of the Constitution., reported PTI.
Officials said the action is in line with LG Sinha’s “zero-tolerance” policy against terrorism and a broader crackdown on the terror ecosystem within Jammu and Kashmir.
The recently terminated individuals are both teachers and have been identified as Ghulam Hussain and Majid Iqbal Dar. Sources told PTI that both teachers were working as over ground workers (OGW) for terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Duo worked as handlers to strengthen terror outfits
Hussain, the officials said, worked secretly as LeT agent in a school in Reasi. Sources added that he would help them carry out terrorist activity, and was also tasked to strengthen the terror network in the area.
“The evidence collected by the investigators from law enforcement and intelligence agencies have revealed that Hussain was in touch with LeT terrorists Mohd Qasim and Ghulam Mustafa through encrypted messaging applications,” the officials added, quoted the report.
They added that Ghulam Hussain, who was appointed a teacher in 2004, was carrying out the terror activities as per the directions of LeT. He allegedly received terror funds via a local conduit, then delivered the same to families of known terrorists as a means to support terrorism, and also “distributed money for the recruitment of terrorists and paid for logistics”.
Hussain was found to be a key operative to transfer the parcels and financial assistance to terror modules and their people.
“Hussain did not commit terrorist acts solely for the greed of money but also due to his sympathies towards terrorism, both as an ideology and a violent campaign. He came to be exposed as an OGW planted within the system in Reasi to radicalise youth and recruit them in the terror fold,” the officials were quoted as saying.
They said having a dangerous terror collaborator working as a teacher in the school is a huge threat to the young and impressionable minds.
Dar radicalised youth, fueled narco-terror in the region
The other teacher, Majid Iqbal Dar worked as a laboratory Assistant in the School Education Department on compassionate grounds after the death of his father in 2009. He was later promoted to a teacher in 2019. Officials said Dar was primarily involved in radicalising youngsters in Rajouri and the surrounding region, the sources told PTI.
Dar was also part of narco-terror and maintained a close link with LeT terrorist Mod Jabar, the report mentioned. He facilitated using the drug money to finance terror activities and the radicalisation of gullible youth. The sources mentioned Dar’s link was exposed in January 2023 when police recovered an IED planted near J&K Bank in Rajouri.
Three persons were arrested later, including Dar, after which it was revealed that he and LeT terrorists, Jabar and Zohaib Shazad, had planted the IED on the instructions of their handler in Pakistan. They would also get money via a conduit.
Dar, the report added, has also shown signs of radical tendencies inside the prison
“Dar has been doing this for a long time; that too at the cost of the government exchequer and has managed to evade the law for many years, is a double jeopardy against public interest. Dar’s damage value is humongous because he was working within the sensitive education department,” law enforcement agencies sources told PTI.