Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who resigned recently to join politics, has now entered the radar of terrorist organisation Hizbul-Mujahideen. The terrorist group reportedly has alleged Faesal of being a “Fodder of India”, and also appealed to citizens of Kashmir to boycott the polls. In the wake of this, Jammu and Kashmir police have raised the security of the former civil servant.
The threat comes days after Faesal took a plunge in electoral politics and started crowd-funding his campaigns. He has vowed to start an “independent political journey” and “stand-up for the poor, marginalised and dispossessed” in the terror-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir. He had resigned from Civil Servies on January 9, citing the alarming rise of “Hindutva” forces and “unabated” killings of Muslims in Kashmir and India. He had entered Civil Services in 2010 after he topped the UPSC exam.
“India has hatched a plot to make the elections successful. They are using Shah Faesal as fodder to execute their plans. Our appeal to the people is to stay away from polls. If you vote for Shah Faesal, India will claim that entire Kashmir is with them. Please do not get misled by Shah Faesal’s claims about ‘azadi’ and democracy, which is nothing but a drama,” says a poster circulated on social media platforms, purportedly authored by Hizbul. The message also said that Shah Faesal’s claims of ‘Azadi’ and ‘democracy’, are nothing but a sham.
The message further says that, if Faesal was indeed a well-wisher of Kashmir, he would have joined terrorist organizations like Dr Manan Wani, Dr Sabzar and Dr Rafi. Manan Wani was PhD scholar from Aligarh Muslim University who had joined Hizbul Mujahideen and was later eliminated by security forces last year. The letter says that people like Manan Wani and others knew that gun is the only solution to the Kashmir problem.
“We want to tell Shah Faesal that what you can do in our ranks, cannot be done to stay in the company of non-believers.” The letter added. The police, however, has not verified the origin of the message, and are still investigating it. Faesal has not commented on this yet.
The alleged statement from Hizbul comes days after Faesal’s appeal to people to give up violence, as it only leads to “graveyards”. Ghulam Rasool Shah, Shah Faesal’s father was gunned down by terrorists in 2003.
He was earlier speculated to join National Conference after he was welcomed by Former Cheif Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah. However, he later clarified that he will not be joining any mainstream political outfit, and will only do what the Kashmiri youth wants him to do. He has initiated a mass contact programme, mainly aimed to engage with the youth.