by Tahir Bhat
SRINAGAR:
In his first public meeting after quitting the IAS, the 2009 IAS topper Shah Faesal on Monday vowed to fight against corruption and for the honour and dignity of the Kashmiri people, reports reaching here said.
Thousands of people turned out to attend Faesal’s first public appearance in his home district at Kupwara on Monday. Sources close to him said that he had planned a quick get-together but the people turned out in huge numbers and it became a sort of a rally. “Parts of the district were snowbound,” one resident said.
During the peak of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s popularity, the people were using the slogan ‘Yee Karri Tee Karri Bab Karri Lo Lo’. ‘Yee Karri Tee Karri Faesal Karri Lo Lo’.Whether the slogan indicated a dominant NC presence in the crowds or a parallel to it was not immediately known.
The former IAS officer was initially rumoured to be joining the NC. However, he later took a different decision and decided to go ahead all alone without even a party.
Faesal told the gathering that his fight was against corruption and “for the honour and dignity of Kashmir people”.
The 2009 IAS topper resigned from service to join politics. He had said that his resignation from IAS was a small act of defiance against continuing killings in Kashmir and the “failure” of the central government to start an initiative to address the Kashmir problem.
Faesal said he had decided to fight his own political battle against corruption, favouritism and poor governance.
“I have chosen a longer but a more straight road to achieve my objectives,” reports quoted Faesal saying. “For the last 10 years, you might have thought I was serving the government, I was literally in a jail. I saw excesses and torture. I was telling myself that I was doing injustice to myself.”
Dr told the people that after he was contemplating to resign and join politics, a lot of people came to me saying politics is dirty. “I would tell them that even if it is rot, people still follow the politicians so we need to get it and improve it,” he said. “I even once thought that I will go to the USA and work there but there I thought that if my neighbour is facing a crisis, what is the moral right I have to be in the US. Can not I help people ensuring they have the basic health facility? So I came back.”
The young man of politics told people that so many people were not keen to see me when I was “a big officer”. This forced me to decide that I should bring down this wall of separation and sit and work with you, he said.
The biggest corruption in the system hs said is the policymaking is not willing to permit the state to explore its resources and work for a better future. He mentioned his tenure in the power sector when he was heading the state-owned Power Development Corporation.
Sources close to him said the Kupwara event has encouraged them that people have taken note of Dr Shah Feasal’s decision to quit the coveted service and work for the people.
