For many Kashmiris Article 370 is a thing of the past, says "petitioner" Shah Faesal [details]

Even as the Supreme Court in its notice has named Shah Faesal as the main petitioner to challenge the abrogation of Article 370 in the Apex Court, the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer on Tuesday said that this article was a history.

"370, for many Kashmiris like me, is a thing of the past. Jhelum and Ganga have merged in the great Indian Ocean for good. There is no going back. There is only marching forward", Shah Faesal twitted amid debate over the decision of the Supreme Court to start hearing petitions challenging this article.

Shah has withdrawn his petition in September 2022

Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry of Culture and an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Shah Faesal has withdrawn his petition from the Supreme Court challenging the Presidential order to amend some provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in September 2022.

Bureaucrat-turned-politician-turned-bureaucrat was among 23 petitioners who had challenged the Centre's decision to abrogate some provisions of Article 370.

Shah Faesal's decision to withdraw the petition comes months after he was taken back into the Indian Administrative Service in April this year and appointed Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry of Culture.

Faesal resigned in 2019, floated his own political party

Faesal resigned from service in protest in 2019 to float his own political party Jammu-Kashmir Peoples' Movement in Jammu and Kashmir on March 19, 2019. However, his resignation had never been accepted by the government and he withdrew it later.

Within days after Parliament amended some provisions of Article 370 and completely scrapped Article 35-A, the then bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and activist Shehla Rashid had challenged the Centre's move in Supreme Court.

A group of seven persons including Shah Faesal and Shehla Rashid had approached the top court challenging the presidential order revoking special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir, and also the J&K Reorganization Act.

Reinstated; posted as Deputy Secretary in Union Tourism Ministry

The Union Government on August 13, 2022, issued an order to reinstate Shah Faesal and posted him as Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry for Culture.

The Department of Personnel and Training reinstated Faisal who had submitted his resignation in January 2019 and floated the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement Party.

Faisal was thereafter detained under the Public Safety Act along with several other J&K political leaders in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.

After he was released, Faisal quit politics and started signalling that he wanted to rejoin the government service. The government had not, till then, accepted his resignation.

In April 2022, the government accepted Shah Faisal's application to withdraw his resignation. On April 27, 2022, Faisal tweeted that his idealism had let him down.