Jammu & Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday suspended eight officials of the School Education Department and removed a contractual staffer amid row over allegations that two textbooks distributed in government school libraries “glorified” separatist leaders and convicted terrorists as great personalities and legends.
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In an order, the school education department said the books — “Personalities and Legends of J&K”, authored by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena and published by Oberoi Book Service in Jammu; and “Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir”, authored by Sushant Giri and published by Anurag Prakashan, Delhi — were withdrawn on Friday. The authors and publishers have been banned.
The books allegedly glorified separatists and terrorists Maqbool Bhat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Massarat Alam and Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. HT could not independently verify the veracity of the contents of the textbooks.
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The leader of the opposition in legislative assembly and BJP MLA, Sunil Sharma called the act “academic jihad” aimed at polluting young minds.
Taking note of the matter, a government order said: “It has come to the notice of the department that these books have highly inappropriate content, it is quite evident that there was serious negligence, dereliction of duty and lack of proper due diligence was carried out by the members of the Sub Committee Series 4 and Supervisory Officers while recommending such books which contained content related to separatism which has potential for creating law and order situations.”
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Consequently, eight officials and supervisory staff of the School Education Department in terms of Rule 31(1)(a) Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956, are placed under suspension, with immediate effect, it added.
Ashwani Kumar, financial commissioner (additional chief secretary), power development department, has been appointed to conduct an enquiry.
