1. Shah Faesal was born on 17 May 1983 and is an Indian bureaucrat currently posted as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Culture In 2010, Faesal secured Rank 1 and became the first Kashmiri to top the Indian Civil Services Examination.
31 Facts About Shah Faesal
1. 2.
Shah Faesal tendered his resignation from the Indian bureaucracy in protest on 9 January 2019, citing "unabated killings" in Kashmir among other things, which, reportedly, was "never accepted" by the central government and he even withdrew the same later.
3.
On 4 February 2019, Shah Faesal began his momentary political life by giving a public speech in his hometown of Kupwara.
4.
Shah Faesal left politics on 10 August 2020 and quit the JKPM.
5.
Shah Faesal was reinstated in the Indian Administrative Service in April 2022 by the Modi government.
6.
Faesal Shah was born in the Sogam area of Lolab Valley, located in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
7.
Shah Faesal's father, Ghulam Rasool Shah, was a teacher who was killed by militants in 2002.
8.
Shah Faesal is a 2008 batch graduate of the Jhelum Valley Medical College.
9.
Shah Faesal holds an MBBS degree from Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar as well as has a master's degree in Urdu.
10.
Shah Faesal finished MBBS at 26 and left IAS at 35.
11.
Shah Faesal was the first candidate from Kashmir in several years to be selected to the Indian Administrative Service through open merit.
12.
Shah Faesal was the fourth Muslim to top the civil service exam.
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Shah Faesal was transferred to the deputy commissioner of Bandipora district on 8 February 2014.
14.
Shah Faesal was transferred to the position of Director School Education, Kashmir, on 22 August 2015, replacing Showkat Ahmad Beigh.
15.
Shah Faesal was transferred from his post to that of an administrative secretary to the state tourism department in May 2018 was later asked to remain on his current post.
16.
Shah Faesal received the Fulbright-Nehru Masters's Fellowship in May 2018 to study at the Harvard Kennedy School.
17.
Shah Faesal tendered his resignation from the IAS on 9 January 2019 citing "unabated killings" in Kashmir among other things, through a Facebook post.
18.
Shah Faesal was generally disillusioned with his role as a bureaucrat, which included jailing people and imposing curfews.
19.
On 4 February 2019, Faesal Shah began his political life by giving a public speech in his hometown of Kupwara.
20.
Shah Faesal later announced that it will not contest the 2019 Indian general election to focus more on outreach, and encouraged people to vote for the right politicians.
21.
Shah Faesal said the party would focus on safeguarding Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution of India.
22.
Shah Faesal was one of the political leaders detained after the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
23.
Shah Faesal was first kept at the Centaur Hotel in Srinagar and then shifted to the MLA hostel where he spent the next six months.
24.
Shah Faesal was booked under the Public Safety Act in February 2020, being accused of subtly advocating separatism.
25.
Shah Faesal was put under house arrest on the very next day.
26.
Faesal Shah wrote bold social media posts even as a bureaucrat.
27.
In February 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs withdrew the security cover of 155 people in Jammu and Kashmir, and this included Shah Faesal, who had until then had been provided security as a bureaucrat.
28.
Apart from the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, Shah Faesal has named Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a role model.
29.
Mani Shankar Aiyar, another Indian bureaucrat turned politician who went on to become a Union Minister, wrote an article on Shah Faesal called "Kashmir's Arvind Kejriwal".
30.
Shah Faesal has suggested ways forward including "humanising the discourse" and advising people not to see the Kashmir issue as a mere "law and order problem".
31.
Shah Faesal is married to Iram Rashid, an officer of KAS, and has a son named Jami Faesal.