Classrooms to Terror Cells: Infiltration of Terrorists in Education Department Rings Alarm Bells

The dismissal of two more teachers for their alleged involvement in terror activities has raised alarm over the infiltration of terrorist networks into Jammu and Kashmir's Education Department. Notably, a majority of government employees terminated over the past four days for terror links belonged to this department.

Since the establishment of a Special Task Force (STF) in April 2021 to identify government employees involved in anti-national activities, 80 such employees have been terminated from service — 50 of them from the Education Department, official sources said.

Recently, a school teacher was arrested for allegedly providing logistical support to Pakistani terrorists involved in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, including that of a Nepalese national. The accused, Mohammad Yousuf Katari, 26, from South Kashmir's Kulgam district, was reportedly an active member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and was working as an Over Ground Worker (OGW) for the outfit on the directions of handlers across the border.

On Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha terminated the services of Ghulam Hussain and Majid Iqbal Dar, both teachers, after investigations revealed their active involvement in LeT-linked terror activities.

Hussain, who joined as a Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teacher in 2004 and was regularised in 2009, was posted at the Government Primary School, Kalwa, Mahore (Reasi). According to sources, he was covertly working for LeT to strengthen the outfit's network in Reasi and the surrounding areas. He was arrested in 2023 after investigators found evidence of his communication with LeT operatives Mohammad Qasim and Ghulam Mustafa through encrypted messaging apps.

"Hussain received terror funds through a local conduit and disbursed them among families of militants, financed recruitment, and arranged logistics for terror operations," said an official.

Dar, on the other hand, was appointed as a laboratory assistant in 2009 on compassionate grounds following his father's death. He was later promoted to teacher in 2019. Investigations revealed that Dar was functioning as an OGW for LeT and had become a key figure in radicalizing youth in Rajouri and adjoining areas.

Sources said Dar was also involved in narco-terrorism and maintained close contact with LeT terrorist Mohammad Jabar. "He used drug money to fund terror operations and recruit vulnerable youth," they added. Dar's terror link surfaced in January 2023, when police recovered an IED planted near a J&K Bank branch in Rajouri.

In January this year, the Jammu and Kashmir Police dismantled a narco-terror module operating in the Karnah area of Kupwara district. Khursheed Ahmad Rather, a government employee from Gabra, Karnah, was the mastermind behind the cross-border narco-terror module. He allegedly used to collect arms and narcotics smuggled from across the border by Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK)-based terrorists.

In November 2023, police arrested three terrorists, including a government teacher, in Poonch district. The module, supervised by the teacher, was reportedly operating under the directions of handlers based across the Line of Control (LoC).

In another high-profile case from February 2023, police apprehended Arif Ahmad, a government teacher who had turned active member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), for orchestrating two explosions in Jammu city.

Arif, a resident of Reasi district, was found to have acted under the directions of LeT handlers Qasim and Qamardin, the latter currently based in Pakistan. Police investigations revealed Arif's involvement in multiple terror incidents, including an attack on a bus carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims, which killed four people.

He also confessed to executing an IED blast in Jammu's Shastri Nagar in February 2022 and the twin explosions in Narwal on January 21, 2023, which injured nine civilians.

Officials said these cases collectively highlight a disturbing pattern of terrorist infiltration within the Education Department, underscoring the need for stringent background checks and ongoing monitoring of government employees in sensitive sectors.