Professor with terror ties was ‘Geelani of Kashmir University’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Altaf Hussain Pandit, the chemistry professor at Kashmir University sacked on Friday over terror links, was not only an active terrorist associated with JKLF from 1990 to 1993 but as executive member of the Kashmir University Teachers Association (KUTA) from 2015 to 2017 and its vice-president from 2017 to 2018, he is also alleged to have orchestrated student protests, including in the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in 2016.
As per the dossier on Altaf, based on which the designated committee in J&K for scrutinising cases under Article 311 (2)(c) recommended his termination, he did not undergo a formal character and antecedent verification, a mandatory requirement for all government employees, either upon joining government service or even subsequently. A discreet enquiry revealed that he was one among the tens of hundreds of people who, despite acting prejudicially to the security of state, managed to enter the public employment system “as the system itself had come to be heavily contaminated”, said a senior J&K government officer.
Altaf had, in fact, earned the moniker ‘Geelani of Kashmir University’ due to his secessionist agenda that included open demands for compliance of Hurriyat protest calendars by the university administration and students during several meetings and even for synchronisation of the academic calendar of KU with the Hurriyat calendar, as per the dossier.
As office-bearer of KUTA from 2015 to 2018, Altaf, through a combination of fear, favour and propaganda, ensured that Kashmir University students participated in violent protests driven by separatists and Pakistan. The dossier counts him among the 20-odd key elements “who nourished the anti-India cartel in Kashmir University”.