Shah Faesal to be back as Civil Servant

Insight Bureau: The Jammu Kashmir cadre IAS officer, Shah Faesal, who resigned from the service in protest against the “unabated” killings in Kashmir in 2019, has been reinstated. Back in 2019, his resignation was rejected by the government. He vehemently opposed the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.

After submitting his resignation, he formed the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) party to work for the masses and due to his vested interest in politics. But in the month of August, 2020, he stepped down as the president and floated the party, as he became disgruntled with the nation’s political affairs.

Faesal has topped the UPSC examination in the year 2009 and the first one from J&K to do so. He hails from the remote village of Lolab in north Kashmir whose father was killed by terrorists in 2002.

In a thread of tweets, he wrote about his idealism letting him down in 2019 when he resigned from the government service to join politics.

“8 months of my life (Jan 2019-Aug 2019) created so much baggage that I was almost finished. While chasing a chimera, I lost almost everything that I had built over the years. Job. Friends. Reputation. Public goodwill. But I never lost hope. My idealism had let me down,” he said.

“But I had faith in myself. That I would undo the mistakes I had made. That life would give me another chance. A part of me is exhausted with the memory of those 8 months and wants to erase that legacy. Much of it is already gone. Time will mop off the rest in believe,” he added.

“Just thought of sharing that life is beautiful. It is always worth giving ourselves another chance. Setbacks make us stronger. And there is an amazing world beyond the shadows of the past. I turn 39 next month. And I’m really excited to start all over again,” he further tweeted.