{"id":331873,"date":"2021-05-06T12:25:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=331873"},"modified":"2021-05-06T12:27:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:57:34","slug":"tackling-traitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/tackling-traitors\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling \u2018traitors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Bang in the throes of pandemic, J&K govt creates a task force to identify \u2018anti-national\u2019 employees, reports RIYAZ WANI<\/em>
\nIn the middle of a raging pandemic, the Jammu & Kashmir Government on April 22 constituted a Special Task Force (STF) to identify and scrutinise the government employees who are involved in anti-national activities. The Assistant Director General of Police (CID), J&K has been appointed as chairman of the force and the IGP, representatives of the Home Department; Department of Law, Justice Member and Parliamentary Affairs and the concerned department are its members.
\nA notification issued by Commissioner-Secretary Manoj Kumar Dwivedi said the STF will scrutinise cases of employees suspected of activities requiring action under \u201cArticle 311(2)(C) of the Constitution\u201d. According to this article, an employee is dismissed or removed or reduced in rank on the ground of conduct which has led to his conviction on a criminal charge.
\nThe task force will compile records of such employees and also engage with other members of the Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) for identifying such other employees. The STF will decide these cases in a time-bound manner.
\nThe move has evoked a sharp reaction from the political parties which see the order designed to harass and suppress the government employees. National Conference has termed the order as an instance of \u201ccolonial hangover\u201d and demanded its rollback.
\n\u201cSuch measures might be used against anybody who wounds the vanity of the government or criticises its policies. There is a stark distinction between being anti-national and having an opinion, this diktat obliterates such distinction,\u201d said the NC leader and the Member Parliament Mohammad Akber Lone said. \u201cThe new gag provides a handy tool to the higher-ups in the bureaucracy to suppress their subordinates and lower-rung officers on unjustified excuses. Having such a measure in place in a functioning democracy is uncalled for. Such a law was not required in the first place because there are already service rules that deal with such employees as are involved in any unscrupulous activity\u201d.
\nThe PDP was harsher in its reaction: \u201cEven as India gasps for breath thanks to GOI\u2019\u2019s inept handling of COVID, it\u2019\u2019s paranoia about Kashmiris has touched a new low with social media of government employees now being monitored. The vengeance with which J&K\u2019s special status was scrapped doesn\u2019t seem to have an end in sight,\u201d Mehbooba said in her tweet.
\nPeople\u2019s Conference on the other hand expressed serious concern over the establishment of Special Task Force to terminate the government employees without any inquiry, terming such an order traumatising and humiliating for the government employees.
\n\u201cThe decision to create a task force and terminate a government employee without an inquiry looks frighteningly draconian and shocking,\u201d the PDP leader Khurshid Alam said. \u201cEven the people who commit the heinous crimes were given an opportunity to defend themselves and present their case\u201d.
\nThe order is designed to ensure that the government employees don\u2019t criticise the official policies on social media or show support for separatist activities. However, it is the issuance of the order bang in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic that has puzzled people in Kashmir. This is seen to reflect the misplaced priorities of the government.
\n\u201cWhatever the rationale for the administration to create such a force, this time the Covid-19 crisis should have been the focus of its attention,\u201d read an editorial in Kashmir Observer. \u201cA task force should have been created to enforce Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure in public life, to ensure our medical facilities are sufficiently equipped and staffed to meet the challenge. But that doesn\u2019t seem to be the priority as of now. A tiny number of allegedly anti-national government employees are\u201d.<\/p>\n

tehelkaletters@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bang in the throes of pandemic, J&K govt creates a task force to identify \u2018anti-national\u2019 employees, reports RIYAZ WANI In the middle of a raging pandemic, the Jammu & Kashmir Government on April 22 constituted a Special Task Force (STF) to identify and scrutinise the government employees who are involved in anti-national activities. The Assistant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":331856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2016,23,2205],"tags":[14173,11219,14172,2538],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331876,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331873\/revisions\/331876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/331856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}