Article 370 was scrapped from Jammu & Kashmir which provided special status and power to the state in August 2019. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the proposal in the parliament after which the state was bifurcated into two separate union territories.
Article 370 to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was a long-standing demand of the BJP and its precursor, the Jan Sangh, whose leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee died in custody in Jammu and Kashmir while leading an agitation against the provision.
A lot has changed since the abrogation from outsiders buying properties to the Indian national flag installed in the offices and no passport for stone pelters and much more.
On the death anniversary of Dr Mookerjee, let us take you through one of the changes that has been reported since the article was scrapped by the ruling BJP government.
Notably, from 2019 to date a number of government servants have been removed from their posts following terror links and anti-national activities. Here is the list:
In 2020, Jammu and Kashmir government terminated the services of 500 of the employees allegedly involved in anti-national activities.
Sources said a committee, headed by the Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, has been constituted to examine and recommend the dismissal of employees from their services for partaking in anti-national activities.
These terminations were made after an article was introduced on 30 July 2020 by J&K General Administration Department (GAD). Article 311(2)(c), is a special provision of the Constitution of India for the purpose of terminating the services of the employees or reducing their ranks without holding an inquiry but on the basis of relevant records and other collateral evidence.
This is not the first time since the 1990s that the government has decided to act against employees on grounds of involvement in anti-national activities. When President’s rule was imposed in 1990, among the officials dismissed on such grounds was Naeem Akthar, a senior leader of the People’s Democratic Party, who also served as a cabinet minister in the previous PDP-BJP government.
Similar action was taken in 1995 and 2016. Both times, however, the officials were reinstated later.
In July 2021, Jammu & Kashmir administration sacked 11 of its employees, including the sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and two from the police department over allegations of terror links.
In September 2021, the Jammu & Kashmir administration sacked six employees over their alleged terror links, including working as overground workers for the terrorist groups, on September 22.
According to sources, two constables, two teachers, a senior officer of the Forest Department and an employee in the R&B Department, are among those given the marching orders.
In October 2022, the administration sacked as many as four government employees including a bank manager and a policeman. The dismissal of the five –most of whom have cases registered against them for terror activities — was ordered under Article 311 of the Indian Constitution.
Those dismissed from service included the Manager of Baramulla Central Cooperative Bank Ltd Afaq Ahmad Wani, Constable in the Auxiliary wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police Tanveer Saleem Dar, village-level worker Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, orderly-cum-chowkidar in Jal Shakti Department at Baramulla, Irshad Ahmad Khan and assistant lineman in Public Health Engineering sub-division, Handwara, Abdul Momin Peer, as per the reports.
On July 22, 2023, the Lieutenant Governor of Kashmir, Manoj Sinha and his government suspended and terminated the service of two doctors who were associated with the post-mortem of two women who were allegedly raped and murdered in the Shopian District of Kashmir way back in the year 2009.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has terminated Dr Bilal Ahmed Dalal and Dr Nighat Shaheen Chilloo from service. The government sources say that the two doctors were accused of actively working with Pakistan and hatching a conspiracy with its assets within Kashmir to falsify the post-mortem report of Asiya and Neelofar, who died by accidental drowning on May 29, 2009.
“The ultimate aim of the duo was to create disaffection against India by falsely accusing the security forces of rape and murder. The investigation reveals that the top-echelon of the then government knew about the facts which were buried while Kashmir burnt,” said the government sources.
The victims Neelofar, the wife of Shakeel Ahanger and his sister Asiya went missing on May 29, 2009, shortly after going to their orchards across the Ranbaria Rivulet in the Shopian district. The next day, their bodies were discovered in a local stream after the relatives alleged their murder and rape.
