Omar slams move to deny jobs, passports to stone pelters in J&K
Peoples’ Conference and Bukhari’s Apni Party flay the order issued by the CID wing of J&K Police
SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) vicepresident Omar Abdullah said the order allowing authorities in the Union Territory to deny passports and jobs to those involved in stone pelting and other unlawful activities was open to “gross misuse” as guilt of an accused needs to be proven in the court first.
“As a rule, no one can be declared guilty until proven. So, as far as this new order is concerned, it should be seen in relation to the recent order on termination of employees. As such, this new order also seems open to gross misuse in its current form,” Omar said in a tweet.
“They did the same with scores of others, many of whom had these police reports tossed out by the courts. An executive order cannot replace a court of law. Guilt or innocence must be proven in court and not based on vague unproven police reports,” he wrote in another tweet.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Conference also condemned the order issued by the Criminal Investigation Department, Special Branch, Kashmir, about the verification related to passports, government schemes and recruitment in government service. “The order not only gives arbitrary powers to sleuths of the special branch but also appoints them as judge, jury and executioner— in this case — to pulverise career prospects of Kashmiri youth and push them away from the mainstream of the country,” said Adnan Ashraf, PC spokesman. Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari also criticised the order saying that this will push youth in further denial.
“Such arbitrary decisions will only push the youth into further alienation and are counter-productive for the peace and reconciliation process in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Bukhari in a statement.
On Sunday, an order issued by the police’s criminal investigation department (CID) on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir government said security clearance should be denied to all those against whom there are digital or police records of involvement in stone-pelting and other subversive activities. Security clearances are needed before issuing a passport and appointment to a government job in the UT.
The order further said if there was any digital evidence such as closed-circuit television camera footage, photographs, videos, audio clips or quadcopter images available in the police records, then it should be referred to the security forces and the security agencies. “Any subject found involved in any such cases must be denied the security clearance,” the order said.
In May this year, following a similar order to weed out employees in government service after scrutiny for proof of involvement in anti-national activities, three persons were dismissed.