Hakeem rues termination of govt employees, Asks Govt to give them an opportunity to be heard in the court of justice

Srinagar : President Peoples Democratic Party (PDF) Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen on Saturday rued termination of three more government, on the charges of posing a threat to the security and sovereignty of the country.
In a statement issued on Saturday Hakeem while criticising termination of three more government employees over alleged militant links, has maintained that the affected persons should be given an opportunity to prove themselves innocent before taking any extreme step like termination from services against them. “If the victim employees are proved guilty in the court of law and fail to prove themselves innocent, then only stern action should be taken against them, Hakeem Yaseen said adding that termination of an employee means snatching livelihood of the bread earner of a whole family not a single person. He said justice demands that the whole family of a guilty should not be made victim of the harsh punishment against their bread earner. The PDF President has maintained that everyone is innocent until proven guilty as per the law of the land.
“If there is evidence against them (terminated employees) and they are given a chance to justify themselves, but they could not, then it is fine,” he observed. He said that if decision is taken without listening to them, then the law says everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Hakeem said that snatching livelihood of a person and his family , in the prevailing unemployment crisis amounts to a gross human rights violation adding that the J&K government should reconsider its punishment against the affected employees and they be give an opportunity to be heard in the court of justice.