Jammu & Kashmir government staffer dismissed over terror links

JAMMU: J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has terminated an official with the Power Development Department for his alleged involvement in terror activities. The accused, Mohammad Shafi Malik (51), was the ninth J&K govt employee dismissed from service this year. Five govt staffers were terminated in Jan, and three more were sacked in March. Since 2020, the Union Territory administration has dismissed around 90 govt employees over their alleged links with terrorist outfits. Malik, from Arwani village of Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, was posted as a PDD inspector at Hassanpora-Tawella. He was named in three FIRs registered at Bijbehara PS between 2017 and 2018 under various sections of the RPC and Arms Act. Charges against him included murder, rioting and unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt, harbouring an offender, mischief causing damage, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant, wrongful restraint, and attempt to murder, officials said. The latest dismissal is part of J&K administration’s ongoing crackdown on the terror infrastructure — including overground workers and sympathisers embedded within govt institutions — in the UT.