Sincere reach out
We have seen an important and news worthy development taking place on Wednesday when the IAS topper from Jammu and Kashmir, Shah Faesal resigned from the Indian Administrative Service protesting against the unabated killings in Kashmir and a lack of sincere reach out from the Union government. Shah Faesal gave a plethora of reasons to bid farewell to IAS. He resigned to protest the marginalization and invisiblisation of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens. He resigned for 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.
All these issues have been haunting the right thinking people not only in the state of Jammu and Kashmir but elsewhere. But what has mattered for Shah Feasal the most was the unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach out from the Union government.
The IAS toppers decision is his own and we need not comment on that, but if has done it keeping in mind the travesty that has been made of Kashmir and the issues surrounding this place, then we as the people of Kashmir salute him.
But since the resignation by this young IAS officer whose future was well laid out, attracts attention as he has made some assertions which include even joining a political outfit for fighting out for the cause of the people.
Shah Feasal’s move could lead the right wing BJP to face many haunting questions as the entire world will take note of his statement and the defiance. His contention about the marginalization of Muslims in India and killings and suppression in Kashmir will spell lot of trouble for the ruling party.
However, all said and done, will Shah Feasal’s bold step to announce his defiance and support for his people lead him somewhere that he can do justice to the needs and demands of the people of this nation?
If going by the statements of the politicians more so, the National Conference leadership, then Shah Feasal has almost joined the bandwagon and will be part of the political process that the party has been involved in ever since the issue of Kashmir was born.
But then how will Shah Feasal’s definition and execution of politics and his joining the party that has discredited the entire nation and its people time and again, help him to secure for his people that has been already surrendered and compromised by the party he plans to join.
If leaving the government service and joining a political outfit that has been criticized for lack of its policy and approach on resolving the Kashmir issue seems a better option, then Shah Feasal would have to do lot of explaining before the people in general and youth in particular to make them understand that how he plans to bring about a change.
Not long ago a legendary police officer, Julio Ribeiro, a former DGP of Punjab and a former commissioner of Mumbai Police, had stated the same thing, but his words were lost in the confusion and chaos that surrounds today’s political and bureaucratic setup. And we do not wish the same for Shah Feasal.
KV Network
