Shah Faesal put in his papers in protest against what he called “unabated killings” in Kashmir. Faesal’s inclination to quit had become apparent after he wrote several controversial articles, Facebook posts and tweets. He would address a press conference on Friday to enumerate the reasons that prompted him to resign

SRINAGAR: Nine years after he became the first Kashmiri topper of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Shah Faesal on Wednesday put in his papers in protest against what he called “unabated killings” in Kashmir besides the lack of New Delhi’s efforts to reach out to Kashmiri people.

Doctor turned bureaucrat, Faesal’s inclination to quit his central government job and join politics had become apparent in the last couple of years after he tossed service rules to the wind and wrote several controversial newspaper articles, Facebook posts and tweets. Speculations have been rife that he is to join the National Conference led by Omar Abdullah.

However, Faesal told the TOI on Wednesday that he is “yet to decide about joining any particular political party.” He said he would address a press conference on Friday to enumerate the reasons that prompted him to resign.

In a brief post on his Facebook account, Faesal said, he quit “to protest against the unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union Government; the marginalisation and invisiblisation of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens; insidious attacks on the special identity of the J&K State and growing culture of intolerance and hate in the mainland India in the name of hyper-nationalism”.

Lashing out at the “regime of the day,” Faesal wrote that “subversion of public institutions like RBI, CBI and NIA has the potential to decimate the Constitutional edifice of this Country and it needs to be stopped.” The voices of reason in this country, he warned, “cannot be muzzled for long and the environment of siege will need to end if we wish to usher in true democracy.”

However, he went on to reassure the aspiring civil servants, many of whom are his fans on social media, that he would be there to guide and train them and help them achieve their dream.

Former chief minister and National conference vice president Omar Abdullah congratulated him immediately on Twitter and hinted that Faesal might join his party.

After having done his MBBS from Jhelum Valley Medical College in Srinagar in 2008, 1983-born Faesal created history by becoming the first Kashmiri Muslim to secure first position in the premier examination of Indian bureaucracy in 2009. His father, Ghulam Rasool Shah a teacher, was killed by terrorists in 2002 when Faesal was preparing for common entrance test for MBBS.

A native of Sogam-Lolab in north Kashmir, Faesal, after his grand success in the civil services had said that he was motivated by the idea of “doing more than what defines success in Kashmir”. Kashmiri students do not generally opt for civil services, “so I thought to make an attempt to conquer this literally virgin field,” Shah had told media with pride.