Shah Faesal, former bureaucrat from JK, announces he will launch political party: Report

Shah Faesal, former Kashmiri IAS officer who quit the service a few months back, said he will launch a political party soon and has already applied for registration of the new party in the election commission. Speaking to NDTV on Monday night, Faesal said he made the decision following the present situation in the Kashmir Valley. Faesal also said he would not join any mainstream political parties and rather form his own, and would be happy to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Earlier, the 2010-batch officer said he was deeply inspired by the style of politics of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, but the “situation” in Jammu and Kashmir would not allow him to pursue politics in their style.

“I am deeply inspired by Imran Khan and Arvind Kejriwal. But, we know we are operating in a conflict zone and it is not very easy for us to work in that space, a space which has lost legitimacy in the last few years.

“I wish if the youngsters of the state give me that kind of opportunity, I will be happy to do a retake of Imran Khan and Kejriwal,” Faesal had said.

He said in recent years, due to the “delegitimising” of electoral politics because of the way it has been conducted, youth are not attracted to it. “We need to change that. I wish to use Parliament for engagement, for bringing solutions to our problems.”

On a question about the possibility of him joining the Hurriyat, Faesal said he would not do so as he cannot put to use his expertise in that forum.

“I am a man from the system and I have experience and my specialisation is in governance... I will be happy to do something in the institutions where I can use my experience as an administrator. I wish I could do that elsewhere as well, but because the Hurriyat does not give me that kind of opportunity, very rightly because Hurriyat does not believe in electoral politics. So, I think at this moment I may not be able to do that,” he said.

However, he said it was wrong to assume the Hurriyat has no role in achieving resolution of the Kashmir problem. He also said phrases such as ‘azaadi’, right to self-determination and plebiscite should not be seen as taboo words in mainstream politics

Faesal said his new initiative of peace-building should not be seen as an alternative to the existing parties, but an addition. He said his resignation from the IAS has nothing to do with the factors within the service, but factors external to it and the environment in which he was working there.