Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) chief Shah Faesal, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in detention since last year, has said that he is “deeply hurt” by the way he was branded an “anti-national.”
Mr. Faesal, who stepped down as the JKPM leader on Monday, told The Hindu that his politics ended before it could even start.
Mr. Faesal, a topper of the 2010 UPSC civil services examination, was detained at the Delhi airport on August 14, 2019, after the Centre passed two legislations to read down Article 370 of the Constitution in J&K and downgrade and bifurcate the State into Union Territories. J&K has been under Central rule since June 2018.
He continued to be under detention at the MLA Hostel in Srinagar and after being released on June 3, he had been under “house arrest” at his residence.
“I want to move on in life and do something productive. My politics ended before it could even start. But I have learnt my lesson. Some of my utterances were problematic. But not anymore,” he said in a written statement to The Hindu, one of his first interactions since he was detained a year ago.
Deletes posts
On Monday, Mr. Faesal dropped all references to the JKPM party from his Twitter handle and deleted all posts from his timeline.
“I do not want to talk about things I have no power to change. As a member of IAS I have been a stakeholder in the future of this country. I deeply value that connection. I am deeply hurt by the way I was branded as an anti-national,” he said.
Mr. Faesal floated the party in February 2019. He resigned from the IAS in 2019 but it was not accepted by the government, which initiated disciplinary proceedings against him for his tweets posted in 2018.
“I don't know where will I go from here. But I know that there is so much to be done in education sector, in health, poverty alleviation, energy security, and I must not waste my life by remaining stuck in the past,” he said.
A day before he was detained at the Delhi airport and packed off to Srinagar, Mr. Faesal gave an interview to the BBC on revocation of Article 370, where he said that “it’s my generation which has now got the taste of betrayal.”
