IAS officer Shah Faesal, who quit politics in 2020, now posted as deputy secretary in Tourism ministry

New Delhi, Aug 13: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has reinstated Jammu and Kashmir’s IAS officer Shah Faesal and posted him as Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry for Tourism. In April, the government accepted Faesal's application for withdrawing his resignation and reinstated him in service.

 

 

Faesal, a 2010 batch IAS topper of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre, now AGMUT resigned from the government service in January 2019. After resigning, he formed the political party Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM). 

 

 

Faesal, who is from Sogam in North Kashmir, became a prominent figure after becoming the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam. A trained doctor, he was allotted the J&K cadre and went on to serve the former state in various departments including education and power development.

 

In March 2019, he formed a political party. Due to his separatist ideologies that was reflected through his articles, tweets, and social media posts that amounted to “a potential threat to public order”, he spent 10 months in detention. After six months of preventive detention, Faesal was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

 

In June 2020, the PSA charges were dropped and Faesal was released. He spent more time in house detention before quitting politics and resigning from his party in August 2020.

 

In a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the political leadership of Jammu and Kashmir in June 2021, he tweeted, “Prime Minister’s initiative has raised lot of expectations across Jammu and Kashmir. Everyone I spoke to from Kashmir told me that something good is happening after a long time. May the duri end soon.”