Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement announced Monday that its founding president, IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal, has stepped down, and that Feroze Peerzada would be its new president.
The announcement comes a day after ThePrint reported that Faesal had removed “President JKPM” from his official Twitter handle, raising speculation that the IAS topper who resigned from the service last year would either rejoin it or leave the country for higher studies. Now his Twitter account shows no tweets of his own, with the last ‘like’ registered on 4 August 2019.
Peerzada confirmed to ThePrint after his appointment that Faesal will either rejoin the IAS or go to the US for further education, though Faesal, who claims to be under house arrest, was not available for a comment when ThePrint contacted him through phone calls. His resignation from the IAS was never accepted.
“We have had month-long deliberations with Dr Shah Faesal, trying to convince him to stay in the party and continue politics for the good of people. However, he was firm on his decision to leave politics,” said Peerzada, 52, a businessman-turned-politician who was earlier the vice-president of the JKPM.
“Dr Shah Faesal was the main reason behind me joining politics. I truly believed that he is the person to usher in great social changes, but unfortunately, what has happened in the last year has left no space for politics. Dr Faesal realised this, but I am sure whatever he does, be it civil services or getting higher education, he will continue to work for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Peerzada said.
Also read: Shah Faesal sparked an IAS craze in J&K’s Lolab, his arrest has now dampened enthusiasm
JKPM statement
In a statement, the JKPM said: “State Executive Committee of JKPM in an online meeting today discussed the ongoing political developments in the state. In the said meeting, the request of Dr Shah Faesal to spare him from the organisational responsibilities was discussed.
“Dr Shah Faesal had informed State Executive Members that he is not in a position to continue with political activities and wants to be freed from the responsibilities of the organisation. Keeping in view this request, it was decided to accept his request so that he can better continue with his life and contribute whichever way he chooses,” the statement added.
“The committee also accepted the resignation of chairman Javed Mustafa Mir and accorded farewell to him. Javed Mustafa Mir a veteran political figure of the J&K has been under house arrest since 5 August 2019.”
Events since foundation of JKPM
Faesal had formed the JKPM last year, and then entered into an alliance with the Awami Ittehad Party headed by Sheikh Abdul Rashid, more commonly known as ‘Engineer Rashid’.
However, Faesal was detained days after the scrapping of Article 370, when several other politicians were also being held. Just before his detention, Faesal, the 2009 UPSC exam topper, had taken to Twitter to express his displeasure against the Narendra Modi government’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status.
“Kashmir will need a long, sustained, non-violent political mass movement for restoration of political rights. Abolition of Article 370 has finished the mainstream. Constitutionalists are gone. So you can either be a stooge or a separatist now. No shades of grey,” Faesal had tweeted.
Faesal was detained by immigration authorities at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi last year in August and handed over to the Delhi Police, which put him on a flight back to Srinagar. Officials said Faesal was on his way to Istanbul at the time.
He was charged under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in February 2020, before being released in June, when the PSA was revoked.
In his PSA dossier, the J&K administration had alleged that Faesal advanced the separatist ideology and challenged the decision of the central government to scrap the special status of J&K.
According to an official source, Faesal had expressed his wish to leave India for higher studies, but the idea was not acceptable to the Centre, which was more interested in his return to the IAS.