The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday conducted raids in Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla districts just a day after the Jammu and Kashmir government dismissed 11 government employees from service.
Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf, two sons of Hizbul Mujahedeen chief Syed Sallahudin were among the dismissed employees. Syed Shakeel was working at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and Shahid Yousuf was working at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology.
Amid these developments, the NIA conducted raids at Pushroo, Sunsooma, and Achabal villages in South Kashmir and arrested five persons. According to officials, in Srinagar, the NIA raided a Darul Uloom office and seized a laptop, bank statements, and other documents apart from detaining the organisation’s head Noor din Bhat. Officials said that NIA sleuths also reached Baramulla early morning and raided two places.
Earlier, the NIA had arrested Shakeel, a senior laboratory technician at Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura from his residence in Srinagar’s Rambagh area in 2018. He was arrested in a case (RC-06/2011/NIA/DLI funding of terror in J&K through hawala channels) which was registered in 2011. Shahid Yusuf, who worked in Agriculture Department was arrested in 2017 in the same case.
Two terminated constables of Jammu and Kashmir Police have been accused of supporting militancy from within the police department and providing inside information to the militants besides logistical support. One constable, Abdul Rashid Shigan, was accused of executing attacks on the security forces. Shigan was working for the “Kashmir Islamic Movement”, a front for Hizbul Mujahideen. He was allegedly behind 13 militant strikes in Srinagar. He was posted on guard duty at the Bandipore police chief’s residence before his arrest.
Another dismissed employee is Razia Sultan. Her father Mohammad Sultan Bhat was a Muslim United Front candidate in 1987, who was later killed by unknown gunmen in the early 1990s. Incidentally, she was appointed under SRO-43 by the government after the killing of her father.
On February 22, 1994, the governor came up with SRO-43 notification that spelled out the rules for compassionate appointment of a person whose family member dies as a result of militancy-related action or due to enemy action on the Line of Actual Control within Jammu and Kashmir or a civilian who dies as a result of militancy-related action. Under this SRO the government has made compassionate appointments of people whose family members were killed by militants and unknown gunmen and Razia Sultan was one of them.
