As part of a sweeping operation to clean up the region from narcotics peddlers who have links with terrorist groups, five policemen and one teacher have been relieved of their duties in the Jammu and Kashmir region. The officials were accused of funding terrorism through drug sales; their acts indicted them as part of a narco-terrorism network controlled by Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and different terrorism gangs in Pakistani territory.

The dismissed officials are Head Constable Farooq Ahmad Sheikh, Constables Khalid Hussian Shah, Rehmat Shah, Irshad Ahmad Chalkoo, Saif Din, and Govt Teacher Nazam Din. It was established that they formed a network that helped transport banned substances into the area, with money earned from the activity being channeled to finance terrorism. As reported by the probe, this network has been providing support in the continuation of the activities of the banned terror organizations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 311(2)(c) of the Indian constitution, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha dismissed them from their employment without conducting any inquiry. This provision gives an opportunity to discharge government employees on the grounds of necessity pending threat to the state. In similar circumstances, the administration has dismissed altogether a total of 70 government employees since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

This recent dismissal comes as follows the dismissal of four other GOV employees last month, two of whom were police constables for narco-terrorism. The employees sacked included five Police Constables, Mushtaq Ahmad Pir and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone, School Education Department Junior Assistant Bazil Ahmad Mir, and Rural Development Department Village-Level Worker Mohd Zaid Shah. These officials were accused of working with different terror groups, and solid evidence against them was recovered by the police and other intelligence organs.

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