According to Home Ministry officials, the government has accepted IAS officer Shah Faesal’s request to rescind his resignation and has reinstated him in service, with his future position to be disclosed soon.
Faesal, who resigned in January 2019 and founded the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) party, was jailed under the strict Public Safety Act shortly after the former state of Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status.
Faesal, on the other hand, abandoned politics following his release and began hinting at his willingness to return to government service. His resignation had been turned down.
The doctor-turned-bureaucrat founded his party with the goal of “reviving democratic politics” in Jammu and Kashmir, but his political career was cut short.
“Soon after quitting (IAS), I realised that my innocuous act of dissent was being seen as an act of treason,” Faesal said in an earlier interview with PTI. It had caused more harm than good, and my actions had deterred many civil service applicants, as well as making my colleagues feel deceived. It was quite upsetting to me.”
Officials from the Home Ministry stated Faesal’s request to rescind his resignation had been accepted, and his future assignment will be disclosed soon.
The Home Ministry, which is in charge of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, had requested the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s opinion on his request to retract his resignation.
After receiving reports from various quarters, including the Department of Personnel and Training, which oversees the IAS, it was decided to accept his plea, and he was reinstated earlier this month, according to officials.
Faesal, a native of the remote village of Lolab in north Kashmir, had topped the UPSC examination in 2009 after his father was assassinated by militants in 2002. On the night of August 14-15, 2019, he was caught at Delhi airport and taken back to Srinagar, where he was detained. In February 2020, he was arrested under the harsh Public Safety Act, which was later revoked four months later.
Faesal, the first UPSC topper from Jammu and Kashmir, hinted at a possible return to government service on Wednesday.
In a series of tweets, he spoke 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.
Though Faesal did not spell out what he meant by “another chance”, speculation has been rife here over the past one year that he might return to the government service either as an IAS officer or in some advisory role to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
“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 tweeted.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
