Speculations are rife that Faesal may join the National Conference (NC) and contest Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla constituency
Nine years after he was hailed as a youth icon who reinvigorated the love for civil services in Kashmir, the 2010 IAS topper Dr Shah Faesal has decided to call it a day as a protest to the "unabated killings in Kashmir, lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union Government; the marginalization of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces (sic)".
Speculations are rife that Faesal may join the National Conference (NC) and contest Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla constituency. The 2010 topper, however, clarified that his important tasks hereafter will be to train and guide aspiring civil servants to help them in achieving their dream.
"To protest against the unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union Government; the marginalization and invisiblization of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens; insidious attacks on the special identity of the J&K State and growing culture of intolerance and hate in the mainland India in the name of hyper nationalism, I have decided to resign from IAS," Faesal said in a statement posted on Facebook and Twitter.
Lambasting the Centre, he reminded the government that the alleged subversion of public institutions like RBI, CBI and NIA has the potential to decimate the constitutional edifice of this Country and it needs to be stopped.
"I wish to reiterate that voices of reason in this country cannot be muzzled for long and the environment of siege will need to end if we wish to usher in true democracy. I am thankful to my family, friends and well-wishers for supporting me in this amazing journey in IAS. One of my important tasks here-after will be train and guide aspiring civil servants to help them in achieving this dream," he said.
Shah Faesal, 35, had created history when he became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exams in 2010, when the Valley was singeing in stone-pelting and separatists-sponsored unrest. He achieved the feat in the first attempt.
Coming from a humble background, Faesal suffered a personal tragedy when his father Ghulam Rasool Shah, a school teacher, was gunned down by unidentified militants in 2002. Faesal, hailing from remote Sogam-Lolaab in the border district of Kupwara, later migrated to Srinagar where he passed his MBBS from Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Medical College.
After serving as Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Director School Education, Managing Director J&K Power Development Corporation, he took study leave and left for the US to pursue Edward S Mason Mid Career Masters Programme.
In his nine years of career, he was seen on the wrong side of fence several times for his frank opinion. In July last year, the Centre asked the J&K government to take departmental action against him for his tweets about rapes.
Unfazed by the action, he retorted on Twitter: "Love letter from my boss for my sarcastic tweet against rape-culture in South Asia. The Irony here is that service rules with a colonial spirit are invoked in a democratic India to stifle the freedom of conscience. I'm sharing this to underscore the need for a rule change."
Faesal's decision to quit has set Twitter on fire. "The bureaucracy's loss is politics' gain. Welcome to the fold," tweeted Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Omar later clarified that his tweet was to welcome him in the club of politicians, not his party. "Actually I welcomed him to the fold of politicians. His future political plans are his to announce," he said.
PDP leader and former education minister Naeem Akthar, who was Faesal's boss for some time, wished him luck. "Best of luck Faesal Shah Faesal. May you be protected from all evil," he tweeted.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq too welcomed the stand to resign by Shah Faesal to protest the unabated killing of Kashmiris.
"Hope his outrage over killings and his sentiment that #KashmiriLivesMatter guide his choice of politics...and gets reflected in representing his people's collective deep driving desire of right to self-determination and their relentless struggle and sacrifice in achieving it - also the reason behind killings and repression on them by the state," he tweeted.
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