IAS Officer Shah Faesal Resigns From Services To Protest ‘Unabated Killings’ In Kashmir

The 2009 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) topper from Jammu and Kashmir, Shah Faesal on Wednesday resigned from services to protest against the “unabated killings” in Kashmir.

Faesal took to social media to announce his resignation. “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 hypernationalism, I have decided to resign from Indian Administrative Service (sic)” he wrote on his Facebook page.

“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,” he further wrote.

Reports suggest that he is most likely to join the National Conference and contest the upcoming national election from Kashmir. A tweet from National Conference chief Omar Abdullah increased the speculation. “The bureaucracy’s loss is politics’ gain. Welcome to the fold Shah Faesal,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister wrote.

The bureaucracy’s loss is politics’ gain. Welcome to the fold @shahfaesal. https://t.co/955C4m5T6V

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 9, 2019

Last year, the centre had ordered action against Faesal, for his remark on rampant rapes in South Asia. Criticising the rape culture in the region, Faesal had sarcastically referred to South Asia as “Rapistan”. Some people had seen the comment, as a reference to India, which Faesal denied.

Shah Faesal had topped the civil services exam in 2009, becoming the first Kashmiri to top the test. After joining the IAS, he worked as District Magistrate, Director of School Education and Managing Director of the state-owned Power Development Corporation. He had recently returned returned from the US after completing his Fulbright fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School.