Representative image
NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha on Thursday ordered the termination of two J&K government teachers found by an internal enquiry to be part of Lashker e Taiba’s (LeT) overground network in Jammu division’s Reasi and Rajouri districts respectively.The two staffers — Ghulam Hussain, who joined the J&K education department in 2004 and Majid Iqbal Dar, working there since 2009 — were dismissed by invoking Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution of India as part of the ongoing, broader crackdown on the terror ecosystem within the Union territory. Nearly 77 J&K govt staffers have been given marching orders under this provision since 2020.Both Hussain and Dar are currently lodged in prison in separate terror cases.Sources in J&K govt told TOI that Hussain was posted at Govt Primary School, Kalwa, Mahore, Reasi but covertly working for LeT to strengthen its terror network in Reasi and the surrounding areas.“The evidence collected by the law enforcement and intelligence agencies has revealed that he was in touch with LeT terrorists Mohd Qasim and Ghulam Mustafa through encrypted messaging applications and was carrying out terror activities at their behest. He would receive terror funds via local conduits and pass them on to families of known terrorists for support, besides using the money for terror recruitment and logistics.Ghulam was arrested in 2023. Sources, citing investigation details, said he was a highly-radicalised terror sympathiser and involved in recruitment of youth into the terror fold.Majid Iqbal Dar was appointed as a laboratory assistant in 2009 promoted as a teacher in 2019. As per the dossier on his terror links, Dar was working for LeT as an OGW and was involved in radicalising youngsters in Rajouri and surrounding areas. Investigation revealed that Dar was engaged in narco-terror activities and maintained a close link with LeT terrorist Mod Jabar. He was a reliable asset to LeT and was using drug money to finance terror activities and radicalise gullible youth, said a source.“Dar’s terror link was exposed in January 2023 when police recovered an IED planted near J&K Bank in Rajouri. During the course of investigation, the police arrested three persons including Dar. It was later revealed that Majid, along with LeT terrorists Jabar and Zohaib Shazad, had planted the IED on the instruction of an LeT handler based in Pakistan. They had received monetary compensation via a conduit,” said an officer.Sources said Dar continues to display radical tendencies inside the prison.
