Jammu and Kashmir IAS officer Shah Faesal on Wednesday tendered his resignation from the Indian Administrative Services and is speculated to join the National Conference. Faesal took to his Facebook and Twitter accounts to inform his followers about his decision to quit the administrative services and join the political fold.
To protest the unabated killings in Kashmir and absence of any credible political initiative from Union Government, I have decided to resign from IAS.
Kashmiri lives matter.
I will be addressing a press-conference on Friday.
Attached is my detailed statement. pic.twitter.com/Dp41rFIzIg— Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) January 9, 2019
Faesal had topped the Indian Civil Service examination in the year 2009, and he was allotted to the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, his home state. A doctor by education, Faesal topping the UPSC examinations had grabbed national headlines, because he comes from a terror hit remote area and his father was killed by terrorists.
Shah Faesal was the managing director of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) before he went to Harvard University in the United States for higher studies. He was on study leave and currently he is an Edward S Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He was supposed to join his department in June this year.
In his post, Faesal alleged that his decision to quit the services has been provoked by the “unabated” killings of Muslims in Kashmir and mainland India at the hands of “Hindutva” forces. Faesal contended that the absence of any political initiative to restore normalcy back to Kashmir valley had motivated him to leave the administrative services.
Faesal has also alluded that the democracy in the country is in danger as ‘subversive’ forces are presiding over the democratic institutions and are bent on altering their nature and functioning. He has also mentioned that he will be revealing about his future plans at a press conference this Friday.
Former Jammu and Kashmir CM and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah welcomed Shah Faesal in his ‘fold’. Speculations are rife that Faesal had quit IAS to fulfil his political ambitions and is eyeing the Baramulla seat in Kashmir in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
The bureaucracy’s loss is politics’ gain. Welcome to the fold @shahfaesal. https://t.co/955C4m5T6V
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 9, 2019
It is noteworthy to mention that Shah Faesal has been a habitual offender and has often betrayed separatist tendencies. In the past, an inquiry was initiated against him when he equated India with ‘Rapistan’. When the departmental inquiry was initiated, he played victim asking the regime to do away with such colonial methods. His tweets have frequently been severely critical of the BJP government at the centre. He also appeared to have a soft corner for Pakistani PM Imran Khan when he pinned the blame of hostilities between India and Pakistan to the Indian media.
