J&K IAS Shah Faesal resigns to protest killings in Kashmir

Jammu: IAS officer from Jammu and Kashmir Shah Faesal resigned on Wednesday protesting against the "unabated" killings in Kashmir and a "lack of sincere reach out" from the Union government. Shah has been in limelight since topping the civil services exam in 2010.

Faesal made the announcement on his Twitter page as news of his decision spread. He said he would address a press conference on Friday.

"To protest unabated killings in Kashmir and the absence of any credible political initiative from Union government, I have decided to resign from IAS. Kashmiri lives matter," he said.

He also shared a brief statement on Facebook saying that his resignation was also to protest "the marginalization and invisiblisation 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 state and growing culture of intolerance and hate in mainland India in the name of hyper-nationalism".

Without naming it, Faesal launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, saying the "subversion of public institutions like the RBI, the CBI and the 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 added.

After topping the civil service exam in 2010, Faesal was allotted the home cadre of Jammu and Kashmir. He served as District Magistrate, Director of School Education and Managing Director of the state-owned Power Development Corporation.

He recently returned from the US where he had gone on a Fulbright fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah confirmed Faesal's decision to join politics. Abdullah tweeted: "Bureaucracy's loss is politics' gain. Welcome to the fold."