2009 IAS topper from Kashmir quits

SRINAGAR: Indian Administrative Service officer Shah Faesal, who had become the first Kashmiri in 2009 to top the civil services examination, announced in a Facebook post that he was quitting to protest against “unabated killings” in Kashmir and “marginalisation” of Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces.

With National Conference (NC) chief Omar Abdullah tweeting a congratulatory message on Twitter, speculation grew that Faesal would join politics and contest the upcoming general election. “Faesal is likely to join NC,” said a person aware of the matter.

Faesal wrote on Facebook that he would hold a press conference on Friday to share his future plans.


In the post, he wrote that he had decided to quit the service owing to reasons including “lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union government” and “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 hypernationalism”.

Abdullah tweeted, “The bureaucracy’s loss is politics’ gain. Welcome to the fold,” triggering comments to the effect that Faesal was set to join the NC. Later, Abdullah clarified, “Actually I welcomed him to the fold of politicians. His future political plans are his to announce.” Faesal was allotted the home cadre of Jammu and Kashmir, where he worked in departments including education and power development over the years, and governments in the state and at the Centre often gave his example to urge youngsters in the state to pursue the path of education and not protests. The recipient of the 2018 Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School, he returned from the United States last week after completing his fellowship.



In his scathing attack on the government, he wrote on Facebook, “I wish to remind the regime of the day that 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.” Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also welcomed Faesal’s decision to “protest unabated killing of Kashmiris by GOI”.