Overview

• The terminated employees are Khurshid Ahmed Rather, a teacher posted in Karnah, and Siyad Ahmad Khan, an assistant stockman in the Sheep Husbandry Department in Keran, both from Kupwara district.
• Both men have been in jail since January 2024 following arrests tied to investigations into alleged overground worker networks for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
• Investigators allege Rather worked with Pakistan-based handlers to move arms and narcotics across the LoC via Karnah, with a cache including multiple rifles, pistols, magazines and rounds recovered after interrogations.
• Police and Army intercepted Khan on January 12, 2024 at Peer Baba Shrine in Keran, where an AK-47 was recovered from him, and officials say he helped receive infiltrators, shelter them, and transport weapons.
• Officials describe the action as part of a broader crackdown on terror facilitation within state institutions, with about 75 government employees terminated since August 2019 and additional dismissals reported in June 2025.