Srinagar, 24 April (KNS): The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Saturday called the constitution of a task force to monitor J&K employees a toolkit to suppress employees, saying the measure will impede the work culture in government departments.

Terming the measure of monitoring the J&K employees with a task force a diktat destined to take away what was given by the constitution to people in the form of fundamental rights, Party Member of Parliament Muhammad Akbar lone called the measure a colonial hangover that gives sweeping powers to government with minimal safeguards to protect the interests of employees thus putting them at the disadvantage of being labelled as antinational. “Such measures might be used against anybody who wounds the vanity of government or criticizes its policies. There is a stark distinction between being anti-national and having an opinion, this diktat obliterates such distinction,” he said.

Lone said the new gag provides a handy tool to higher-ups in bureaucracy to suppress their subordinates and lower-rung officers on unjustified excuses. “Having such a measure in place in a functioning democracy is uncalled for. It is bound to add to haughtiness in bureaucracy.

The misstep is yet another low this government has touched. Such a law was not required in the first place because there are already required service rules that deal with such employees as are involved in any unscrupulous activity. The measure, it goes without saying, gives a ditch to the claim of the government on the return of normalcy in Kashmir. Normal situations do not require the government to have such bizarre diktats in place.”

While underlining the undemocratic underpinnings of the gag, Lone asked the government to roll back the diktat as it would severely affect the work culture in government departments. “This is what the government has for our employees when they are in the frontline fighting the resurgence of COVID-19. With such measures, the ruling dispensation at New Delhi has brought dark days for labour classes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Such exclusivist measures vis-à-vis the people of J&K reveal the wanton parity to which our people are subjected to. We are undoubtedly undergoing a grim chapter in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that sans democratic moorings, and reverence for people’s fundamental rights,” he added.(KNS)