Former militants occupy high govt posts in Jammu & Kashmir

, Dec 19: Several former militants have got appointments in top government posts in

after qualifying either the state administrative or police service examinations, besides the judicial exams.

The startling fact came to light after the appointment of the current year's topper in the higher judiciary examination was stopped on the grounds of pending CID verification. The candidate, however, has been demanding a treatment equal to that meted out to other officers who were given appointments in the past despite having links to militant outfits.

It was also learnt from sources in the state administrative service that a civil officer of the 1996 batch, currently posted in north Kashmir, was a Hizbul Mujahideen militant trained in manufacturing improvised explosive devices. Even the left hand of the militant-turned-administrative-officer was once damaged in a blast.

Another senior police officer of the 1999 batch was also a Hizbul man, it was learnt. Highly-placed sources said a number of officers in subordinate judiciary in Kashmir were former militants while there are civic engineers who were jailed in the past for abducting officers for extortion.

What was even more surprising was that one civic officer with links to militants was accused of abducting the brother-in-law of former J&K Chief Minister and currently the Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Sources in the police said all such individuals joined the services before the CID verification process was completed. They said a former Hizbul militant was arrested at the border when he was trying to cross over to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir for arms training before appearing for the Kashmir public service exams in 1999.

OneIndia News