Srinagar: Anees-ul-Islam, the grandson of pro-Pakistan leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has disowned his grandfather to save his Government job, which he got in lieu melting down of 2016 agitation.
Anees was given a Government job when scores of Kashmiri mothers were receiving bodies of their sons covered in shrouds every day on calls of strike by pro-Pakistan Geelani throughout the latter half of 2016.
His grandson managed to get an out-of-turn job with the Jammu & Kashmir government run by the then Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janta Party coalition.
So-called Hurriyat leader and Anees’ father, Altaf Ahmad Shah, is lodged in Tihar jail on terror funding charges. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017 in terror funding case along with some other so called Hurriyat leaders.
Anees-ul-Islam, was appointed research officer in Sher-e-Kashmir International Convection Complex (SKICC), a subsidiary wing of the J&K tourism department, flouting all rules of recruitment policy of the then J&K government. The pensionable job fetches an annual salary of Rs 12 lakh.
On 17 October, last year, the J-K government terminated the services of Anees-ul-Islam, in the interest of the security of the state. He was terminated under the Article 311(2) (C) of the Constitution that gives the administration the power to terminate the services of a government employee without constituting an inquiry against them.
“And whereas the Lt Governor is satisfied under sub clause (c) of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 311 of Constitution of India that in the interest of the security of the state, it is not expedient to hold an inquiry in the case…. Accordingly, the Lt Governor hereby dismisses Mr Anees-ul-slam… from service with immediate effect,” read the government order issued last year.
Anees was the 17th government employee whose services were terminated by the LG administration for their anti-national antecedents and activities under Article 311a (c). The services of around 25 government servants in Jammu and Kashmir have been terminated so far.
The process of sacking of employees began this year, weeks after the UT administration constituted a Special Task Force (STF) empowering them to look into allegations of anti-State activities against government employees.
Anees, meanwhile, is seeking legal recourse and petitioning the Government of India to restore his job with the Government of India, seeking relief under the Constitution of India which his grandfather and his entire family rejected all his life.
Anees has filed a petition against his termination before the High Court of J&K and Ladakh. He has prayed for the restoration of his government job. Reportedly, Anees has totally distanced himself from Geelani.
“The order has been passed only to achieve the objective for otherwise there is no allegation of misconduct against the petitioner,” reads the petition. “As a matter of fact (petitioner) remained aloof from the activities of his grandfather.”
Anees, an MBA from Jalandhar, Punjab, was refused a passport by the state regional passport office on adverse reports from the J&K CID in 2009. He was finally granted his passport following a state high court order. Anees went to the UK for another Masters in Business Administration.
Reliable officials in the Tourism Department, who then served at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC) told The New Indian that the then tourism secretary had appointed Anees much earlier before he resumed.
“Anees was accommodated when Geelani was calling for protests and shutdowns, and violence, arson and killings were the order of the day,” a senior government official said. “For want of his CID verification, Anees did not take any salary for some months initially.”
It needs to be mentioned here that two days after killing terrorist Burhan Wani in 2016 a group of civil society members and journalists met Geelani at his residence. They urged him to impress upon the violent stone-pelters to spare the ambulances ferrying critical patients, to avoid attacking police stations and avoid destroying public properties like schools, hospitals, and bridges. However he did not relent.