Poster features separatist in J&K

Official suspended after hardliner shown in campaign on girl education

The J&K govt has also ordered an inquiry into pro-Pak hardline separatist leader Sayeda Aasiya Andrabi having been chosen as one of the leading women leaders to feature in the campaign

The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered an inquiry into proPakistan hardline separatist leader Sayeda Aasiya Andrabi having been chosen as one of the leading women leaders to feature in official “Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao” campaign. A senior officer of the childcare wing of the J&K social welfare department (SWD) has been suspended.

The other women achievers whose photographs found space on a banner at a function of the SWD held in southern

Anantnag’s Breng area on Wednesday included former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa, Puducherry lieutenantgovernor Kiran Bedi, veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar, IAS officers Ruveda Salam and Deeba Farhat and J&K’s social welfare minister Asea Naqash. The inclusion of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Faith) chief Andrabi, who is currently lodged in a jail, had come as a major embarrassment to the PDP-BJP government in the state.

Official sources said that Anantnag’s deputy commissioner Younis Malk has while ordering an inquiry into the incident placed the concerned child development project officer, Shameema Akhter, under suspension.

The banner, sources said, was prepared by the childcare wing of the SWD with the aim to popularise the governmentsponsored “Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao” scheme. The function held in Anantnag’s Kokernag area under the Integrated Child Development Services project was presided over by a minister and the photograph of the banner went viral on social media immediately.

The BJP had demanded inquiry into the incident and stern action against the officials who cleared the banner to be part of the weeklong official campaign.