Shah Faesal, IAS-turned-politician, detained at Delhi airport, sent back to Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) chief Shah Faesal was detained at the Delhi airport when he reportedly was trying to fly abroad. According to reports, he has been sent back to Kashmir. The former IAS officer was again detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on his arrival in Srinagar, they said. He was bound for Istanbul, the officials added.

The development comes a day after he tweeted that Kashmiris have only two options - 'either be a stooge or a separatist now'. 

"Kashmir will need a long, sustained, non-violent political mass movement for restoration of the 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," he had tweeted. 

Faesal has been openly critical of the Modi-led government and criticised it for repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

“Kashmir is experiencing an "unprecedented" lockdown and its eight million population "incarcerated" like never before,” he said on Wednesday.

It was not possible to reach former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference' Sajad Lone or send a message to them, Faesal said in a Facebook post as information from the Valley continued to come out in driblets.

Parliament has given its nod to abolish the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and also to bifurcate it into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

There's a virtual blackout in the Valley with few workable mobile phones and internet connections and prohibitory orders in place.

"Kashmir is experiencing an unprecedented lock-down. From Zero Bridge to Airport some movement of vehicles is visible. Other places are completely out of bounds. Except for patients or those with a curfew pass," Faesal, the president of the J&K Peoples Movement party, said in a Facebook post.