Srinagar Civic Body Sacks Wife Of The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq

The Jammu and Kashmir government has terminated the services of Masrat Yousuf as media assistant to Srinagar Municipal Corporation.

New Delhi | Updated: 10 September, 2022 8:18 pm IST

The Hindu's J&K correspondent Peerzada Ashiq.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has terminated the services of Masrat Yousuf as media assistant to Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). She is the wife of Peerzada Ashiq, the J&K correspondent of The Hindu newspaper.

Masrat was a temporary employee with SMC, said the termination order. The order by the administration doesn’t explicitly explain the reasons for the sacking.

Ashiq was very influential in the political corridors of Kashmir when his wife was appointed to SMC in 2011. Ashiq was summoned by the police on many occasions over an inaccurate portrayal of crucial events in Kashmir.

SMC has posted Idrees Aqail, a regular government employee, as public relation officer to deal with media relations.

“In view of the above, Srinagar Municipal Corporation no longer requires the services of Miss. Masrat Yousuf. Hence, no further extension of services is granted with effect from September 9, 2022,” the order reads.

The government has constituted a committee for scrutinising cases of its employees allegedly involved in anti-national activities. The committee reviews the activities of persons under the government lens and recommends the termination of their government services if found guilty.

In a major crackdown on the terror ecosystem, the administration sacked senior Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services officer Assabah-ul-Arjamand Khan, wife of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s Bitta Karate and three others in August this year. The other three included a scientist and a senior assistant professor at the University of Kashmir.

Other senior employees terminated by the government include Syed Abdul Mueed, who is a son of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudin. Mueed was serving as a manager in the Information Technology (IT) department of the Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute.