Srinagar (J&K): After former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who has been the first UPSC topper from Jammu and Kashmir hinted at his return to government service last evening, Home Ministry officials said on Thursday that Faesal's plea for withdrawal of resignation has been accepted. They also said that his next posting would be announced soon.
Faesal, in a series of tweets, talked about his idealism when he resigned from government service to enter politics in 2019.
"The eight months (Jan 2019-Aug 2019) of my life created so much baggage that I was almost finished. While chasing a chimera, I lost almost everything that I had built over the years. Job. Friends. Reputation. Public goodwill. But I never lost hope. My idealism had let me down," he tweeted. He further said, "But I had faith in myself. That I would undo the mistakes I had made. That life would give me another chance. A part of me is exhausted with the memory of those 8 months and wants to erase that legacy. Much of it is already gone. Time will mop off the rest in belief."
Although Faesal did not say what he meant by "another chance", speculation was rife over the past year that he could return to government service. Faesal, who submitted his resignation in January 2019 and floated the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) party, was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act immediately after the abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Hailing from the remote village of Lolab in north Kashmir, Faesal, whose father was killed by terrorists in 2002, had topped the UPSC examination in 2009. He was detained at Delhi airport on the intervening night of August 14-15, 2019, and sent back to Srinagar and placed under detention. He was booked under the draconian Public Safety Act in February 2020 which was revoked four months later.
