‘Next course of action to depend on what Kashmiris want’: Shah Faesal

Srinagar: A day after quitting the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Shah Faesal, who topped the exam in 2009, on Thursday said his next course of action will depend on what the people of Kashmir, especially the youth, want him to do.

Faesal said he received both abuse and adulation over his decision to quit the government service but he had "totally expected this".

"As of now, I have quit the service. What I am going to do hereafter also depends on what people of Kashmiri want me to do. More so the youth," he wrote in a Facebook post.

Faesal asked people if they have any ideas for him before he takes a final decision about his future.

"If you are ready to come out of Fb/Twitter and show up in Srinagar tomorrow (Friday), we could think this through together. My choice of politics will be decided by real people not Fb likes and comments," Faesal added.

The MBBS degree holder said he would share the venue details after he knows who all are coming to meet him. "Let's see out of those hundreds and thousands how many are ready to walk the talk. Type yes in the comments below. Don't tell me later that I should have asked the youth first," he said.

The former IAS officer is widely tipped to join the National Conference but his Facebook post has given rise to more speculation.

Faesal had resigned on Wednesday, protesting against the "unabated" killings in Kashmir and a "lack of sincere reach out" from the Union government.

The 35-year-old said his resignation was also to protest "the marginalization and invisibilisation 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".