Raziyah Sultan of Anantnag lost her father 25 years ago to an attack by gunmen who were never identified. Now, the Jammu and Kashmir government’s latest crackdown that allows it to sack any employee without citing a reason has cost her the job she had got on compassionate grounds.
Raziyah, the head teacher of a school in Anantnag, was among 11 government employees whose services were terminated on Saturday. The termination letter she received from the administration of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha mentions a “case” and “information” on her “activities”.
Raziyah, in her late-40s, said she had no clue what case the letter, which also mentions “security of the State”, was referring to and alleged she had been sacked over “baseless and imaginary allegations”. She said she had never been involved in any “undesirable or unlawful activities”
The latest set of terminations is part of a government crackdown initiated in April this year against employees the administration thinks are involved in anti-national activities. The administration is invoking a provision in Article 311 of the Constitution that allows the President or the governor to dismiss a government servant without an inquiry “in the interest of the security of the State”.
Many in Kashmir believe the government’s latest action is aimed at weeding out employees it believes have separatist connections, even the relatives of deceased separatists.
Raziyah’s father Mohammad Sultan Bhat had been a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which during his time was involved in the democratic process but later joined the ranks of the separatists.
Bhat, a lawyer turned politician, had contested the 1987 Assembly elections on a Muslim United Front (MUF) ticket and was killed in 1996 by unknown gunmen.
Bhat, a graduate from Aligarh Muslim University, had sided with the MUF, which had challenged the National Conference-Congress alliance, and lost by around 100 votes. The elections, it was widely believed, were rigged and became one of the reasons for the rise of militancy a year or two later.
Raziyah had got the job on compassionate grounds under provisions of a law that empowers the government to offer employment to a close relative of a victim of militancy-related violence.
The termination order says: “The Lieutenant Governor is satisfied that after considering the facts of the case and based on information available that the activities of Raziyah Sultan, a head teacher in the government middle school (at) Khiram, Anantnag, are such as to warrant her dismissal from services.”
No details of her alleged activities or the case were mentioned.
“Whereas the Lieutenant Governor is satisfied under sub-clause (c) of the proviso clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold an inquiry in the case of Ms Raziyah Sultan. Accordingly, the Lieutenant Governor hereby dismisses Ms Raziyah Sultan, head teacher in the government middle school (at) Khiram, Anantnag, from service, with immediate effect,” the order added.
Raziyah said the government’s decision had come as a shock to her as she was never involved in any “undesirable or unlawful activity during my entire life”.
“These are baseless and imaginary accusations…. Provide me the details as I know absolutely nothing about the case,” she said.
Raziyah had been in government service for two decades.
The other terminated employees include Syed Shakeel Yousuf, a health worker at a government hospital, and Syed Shahid Yousuf, an employee in the agriculture department, both sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief commander Syed Salahuddin.
Shakeel and Shahid were arrested by the NIA in 2018 in a terror-funding case and remain in custody. The family has denied the charges.