The territory’s administration is increasingly making use of a provision that allows it to dismiss employees without holding an inquiry. Is ‘national security’ a cover for cracking down on dissent?
On 1 May last year, a document did the rounds of social media in Kashmir and was shared, among others, by Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. It was the termination letter issued to Idrees Jan, a teacher at the Government Middle School in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
It stated that Jan had been terminated from service under the provisions of Article 311(2)(c); he had spent 20 years in government service.
The man at the centre of the drama recalls the events of that fateful day: “I was told to report to the naib tehsildar’s office …
Quratulain Rehbar is a freelance multimedia journalist from Kashmir. She writes on human rights, gender, employment, legal rights, hate crimes and health in Kashmir and across India. Her work has been published in Nikkei Asia, Aljazeera, Vice World, TRT World, The Wire, The Caravan, Firstpost, Article 14 and others.
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