Northlines Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 19: Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. Saturday dismissed its chief manager Sajjad Bazaz from services with immediate effect. The investigators discovered that Bazaz was a Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agent and a terror asset planted in J&K Bank.
His services were terminated with immediate effect by the Bank for posing a threat to the security of the state, according to officials.
In an official order, the managing director-cum-chief executive officer of J&K Bank said that the activities of Sajad Ahmad Bazaz, Chief Manager, warrant his dismissal from service under Rule/Provision 12.29 of the Officers Service Manual (OSM).
“Whereas the undersigned is satisfied under Rule/Provision 12.29 in OSM that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold an enquiry in the case of Sajad Ahmad Bazaz, chief manager, Code no. 4484. Accordingly, I hereby dismiss Sajad Ahmad Bazaz, chief manager, Code no. 4484 from service, with immediate effect,” reads the order.
“The current bank management appeared to be unaware that Bazaz was one of Pakistan's most important assets, secretly working for ISI and terror outfits.” Following the repeal of Article 370, top investigators were probing the link of deep ISI assets within the terror ecosystem when his name came up. They were in for some surprises after a month of painstaking investigation. According to the investigators, Bazaz, who was born in Batamaloo Srinagar, was planted in J&K Bank by Pakistan ISI in 1990 by a backdoor appointment as a Cashier-cum-Clerk. “In 2004, he was given a sudden promotion to a position that was highly suspicious, but it did not raise any eyebrows because the system then was paralysed by larger and deeper subversion,” official sources said.
They claimed Sajad was an embedded asset of ISI-affiliated terrorist-separatist networks.
According to sources, Bazaz worked full-time for J&K Bank while also working as a correspondent-cum-columnist for a leading Kashmir-based English newspaper. “This is public knowledge, and everyone is aware of it.” The evidence gathered by the agencies indicates that Bazaz did not have honest intentions as a parallel employee of the newspaper, as evidenced by the various names under which he wrote and published columns. He began using the penname ‘Sajjad Ahmad'. He cleverly added an extra ‘j' and dropped his surname ‘Bazaz'. When neither his employer nor the law of the land could take cognizance of his wrongdoings, Sajad added his surname and wrote under the byline ‘Sajjad Bazaz', they said.
They went on to say that all of his news stories and columns justified and glorified the secessionist-terrorist campaign in J&K. Some were subtle, while others were harsh. Through his on-the-ground reporting and opinion pieces published in his weekly columns titled ‘Off The Record' and ‘What's Up,' Sajad supported Pakistan's position on UN intervention in Kashmir, tripartite talks, and human rights violations.
“Bazaz conveyed three messages in a write-up. To begin, he is angrily pleading with the UN to intervene in Kashmir. Second, by doing so, he recognises Kashmir as an independent, albeit weak, nation. Third, he categorically rejects the Shimla agreement because it weakens the people of Jammu and Kashmir's right to self-determination. This is typical of the Hurriyat and Pakistan's current public position. It is completely unacceptable for an employee of a government-funded and owned entity, such as JK Bank, to openly preach and practise secessionism,” the sources said.
He continued to push Pakistan's official line on Kashmir for tripartite talks rather than India's position of bilateral talks under the Shimla agreement.
In another article, Sajad advocated for the involvement of the United States as a third party in the Kashmir dispute, which is a discourse popularised by Pakistan in order to keep the flame of violence burning in J&K.
He wrote numerous articles and opinion pieces for the newspaper that supported Pakistan's ISI and terror groups' narrative on Kashmir.
“In yet another write-up in his weekly ‘What's Up' column, Sajad “dutifully” serves the adversary's narrative by questioning the genuineness of counter-terrorism operations by police and security forces, giving the impression that all operations against terrorists have been fake.” If there have been any irregularities that have been detected by the state's built-in checks and balances and action taken in accordance with the rule of law. However, he, like many other adversary false narrative peddlers, has been sowing seeds of doubt in order to incite people against the security forces,” the sources said.
Pakistan has made extensive use of its proxies in J&K to highlight anti-security forces propaganda internationally. “A prominent Pakistani proxy in this effort is Sajad Ahmad Bazaz,” the sources added.
According to sources, on the subject of the circumstances under which Sajad Ahmad Bazaz was elevated from the seat of a clerk to that of a gazetted equivalent post of Editor, specially created for him, on October 20, 2003, a proposal for creating a post of Editor in J&K Bank was placed before the Board of Directors of J&K Bank and was approved.
“Even before the Board approved the proposal, the bank had invited applications from the cadre of Cashier-cum-Clerks to apply for the newly created post of Editor four days earlier, via an internal communication on 16th October 2003,” they added.
“The eligibility criteria were tailored to include Sajad Ahmad Bazaz.” First, the written test requirement was dropped. Second, the catchment was limited to the cashier-cum-clerk cadre to give Sajad an unfair advantage. This is a criminal investigation in and of itself because an officer-grade position was not advertised and no opportunity was provided to members of the general public to compete for the position. Third, despite the adversary's best efforts to manipulate things in Sajad's favour, the adversary failed to erase footprints,” they claimed.
Despite open knowledge that Sajad was a full-time employee of a newspaper while on the payroll of J&K Bank, the interview board, which included the then-Chairman of the Bank M.Y Khan, Director Haseeb Drabu, Chief General Manager P.Z Lateef, and Deputy General Manager M.A Shah, chose Sajjad from a very small group of four. The Board also ignored the fact that he was vehemently opposed to the Indian state and an open secessionist. “In this context, the adversary's stranglehold and penetration into the J&K Bank is a matter of thorough investigation,” the sources said.
The subsequent behaviour of Sajad Ahmad Bazaz after being appointed as ‘Editor' – a position specially created for him in J&K Bank – demonstrates further conspiracy and subversion.
Not only this he was made de facto boss of the Corporate Communication cell of the Bank and he enjoyed total control of the Bank's Advertisements released to the publication of his choice and all advertisement campaigns, Hoardings, Calendars and publicity material on which the J&K Bank used to spend lavishly.
He enriched select local newspapers and news magazines with advertisement money drawn from J&K Bank's coffers after being given new authority. It is worth noting that he was chosen and placed as Editor in the bank by a clique and coterie, of which he eventually became an important member, who infiltrated the governmental system to further the secessionist-terrorist campaign at the behest of Pakistan ISI, they added.
It is worth noting that Sajad Ahmad Bazaz owns and operates 68 accounts with J&K Bank alone.
“Sajad Ahmad Bazaz is an important part of the overall terror ecosystem carefully cultivated by the ISI and terror outfits.” The most distinguishing feature of this ecosystem is the attempt to maintain an air gap (via layering) between gun-wielding terrorists and the entire apparatus that supports and protects these terrorists in a variety of ways. These include creating and providing popular legitimacy through a combination of gun fear and the propagation of a false narrative, obstructing and subverting the rule of law through bar associations and advocates when law enforcement attempts to book them and bring the matter to a legal conclusion, arranging strategic logistics such as finances and tactical logistics such as SIM cards, phones, transportation, food, medical attention, hideouts, information about law enforcement, and so on.
