The Jammu and Kashmir government has dismissed five policemen and a teacher for their alleged involvement in “narco-terrorism”, marking its biggest action against its officials for their involvement in the drugs and militancy nexus.

The presence of five cops on the list is a grim reminder of how the alleged nexus is wooing the men in uniform in numbers.

Officials said the government has again invoked sub-clause (c) of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India to fire them.

The provision empowers the government to take such actions in the interest of national security without holding a formal inquiry.

Dozens of employees have been terminated under a crackdown starting in 2021 under this controversial provision, which has earlier evoked widespread criticism as no inquiries were ordered for dismissing the employees.

The government is now using the provision to target employees who are allegedly part of narco-terrorism, also called cross-border drug smuggling racket, allegedly employed by Pakistan to finance militancy.

The cross-border drug trafficking is an old phenomenon but the administration is increasingly convinced of its deep connection with militancy.

Sources identified the dismissed policemen as Irfan Ahmad Chalkoo, Farooq Ahmad Sheikh, Khalid Hussain Shah, Saif ud-din and Rehmat Shah in addition to teacher Nazim Uddin. They could not be independently contacted. They are mostly from border areas where it is relatively easy to get sucked into the drug cartel.

Drug addiction is emerging as a major concern in Jammu and Kashmir, with many expressing fears that it is going the Punjab way.

On Friday, moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told a gathering at Jamia Masjid that drug addiction was alarming and called it a “national crisis”.

“The alarming spread of drug addiction in Kashmir, mostly affecting the younger generation, is a great challenge facing the nation. It’s in fact a national emergency,”
he said.

The Union government on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that as much as 66,595kg of drugs under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were seized in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir over the past three years.

Union minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, told the Rajya Sabya in a written reply on Friday that the government had taken several measures to coordinate with international agencies and neighbouring countries to deal with cross-border
drug trafficking.

The worrying part here is the involvement of an increasing number of uniformed men in the racket.

The first major case was in 2021 when the NIA arrested BSF sub-inspector Romesh Kumar in Jammu’s Samba. The agency recovered ₹91 lakh from him and was accused of operating a cross-border drug syndicate linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Later, five army men and four civilians were arrested in one case, while 17 men including five policemen were arrested in another — both in Kupwara district on
the border.

Last year, Kupwara’s additional district and sessions judge rejected the bail of five army men and four civilians, posted in 175 Engineering (Territorial Army) Wing headquartered in the Panzgam area of Kupwara, regretting the “protesters of the society” had turned “perpetrators” in drug trafficking.