Overview

• Teacher Khurshid Ahmad Rather of Karnah and Assistant Stockman Siyad Ahmad Khan of Keran were removed from service after officials cited incriminating material gathered by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
• Investigators say Rather acted as an overground worker for Lashkar-e-Taiba with contacts in Pakistan, including Manzoor Ahmed Sheikh alias Shakoor and Javid Ahmed, and received arms and narcotics consignments via LoC routes in Karnah.
• Authorities report recoveries tied to the probe that include multiple MP5-type rifles, an AK-47, pistols, magazines and ammunition, with both men lodged in District Jail, Kupwara since early 2024.
• Khan was intercepted on January 12, 2024 at Peer Baba Shrine in Keran, where police and Army personnel recovered an AK-47 from him, and an associate, identified as Rafaqat Ahmed Khan, was found with a pistol and rounds.
• Officials frame the terminations as part of an ongoing purge of suspected overground networks in government jobs, with media tallies placing the cumulative number of dismissals under the security proviso in the eighties as political critics question the lack of inquiry.