In a recent Twitter post, Shah Faesal said Article 370 is now “a thing of the past”.
New Delhi:
IAS officer Shah Faesal and former student leader Shehla Rashid Shora have withdrawn petitions they submitted to the Supreme Court to challenge the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
A five-judge constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today allowed Mr Faesal and Ms Shora to withdraw their petitions and ordered their names removed from the list of petitioners.
Ms Faesal first made headlines in 2009 by coming top of the UPSC Civil Service Entrance Exam – the first Kashmiri to do so. After several government posts, he resigned from service in 2019 to protest “unabated killings in Kashmir”. In a Facebook post, he accused the center of marginalizing Indian Muslims and undermining public institutions. He then launched a political party, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples’ Movement.
Shehla Rashid, who was the vice president of the student union at Jawaharlal Nehru University, rose to prominence during the agitation demanding the release of several student leaders, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, who were arrested in 2016 on sedition charges. Kumar is now a congress leader. Umar Khalid is in jail in connection with a riot case in Delhi. Shehla Rashid later joined Shah Faesal’s party.
Mr. Faesal was among the Kashmir leaders detained after the center struck down Article 370 which gave Jammu and Kashmir special status and split the state into two Union territories. In August 2020, the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples’ Movement announced that Mr. Faesal had been relieved as a party member at his request. Shehla Rashid has also left the party.
Last year he asked to be reassigned to public service and wanted to withdraw his resignation. His application was accepted.
In a recent Twitter post, Mr Faesal said Article 370 is now “a thing of the past”.
“370, for many Kashmiris like me, is a thing of the past. Jhelum and Ganga have vanished into the great Indian Ocean forever. There is no turning back. There is only marching forward,” he said.
