Willing to contest forthcoming polls, says IAS officer Shah Faesal
Srinagar, Jan 11: IAS officer Shah Faesal, who has announced his resignation, Friday said he was willing to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections but would not be joining any political party "as of now".
Addressing a press conference here, he ruled out the possibility of joining separatist Hurriyat Conference saying his experience in governance could not be used there.
Faesal, who has been in the limelight since becoming the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam in 2009, announced his resignation on January 9 through social media to protest the "unabated" killings in Kashmir and the marginalisation of Indian Muslims.
In a brief statement on Facebook, the 35-year-old Faesal, who belongs to 2010 batch of the IAS, said his resignation was also to protest "the marginalisation and invisibilization 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 state and growing culture of intolerance and hate in mainland India in the name of hyper-nationalism".
"I wish to reiterate that voices of reason in this country cannot be muzzled for long and the environment of siege will need to end if we wish to usher in true democracy," he had said.
Faesal, an MBBS degree holder, is likely to join the National Conference and may contest the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla parliamentary seat, political sources said.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah had said his resignation was a loss of bureaucracy and gain of politics.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also welcomed Faesel's resignation.
"Welcome the stand to resign by @ShahFaesal to protest unabated killing of Kashmiris by GOI."
"Hope his outrage over killings and his sentiment that #KashmiriLivesMatter guide his choice of politics and gets reflected in representing his people's collective deep driving desire of right to self-determination and their relentless struggle and sacrifice in achieving it - also the reason behind killings and repression on them by the state," the Hurriyat leader had said in his tweet.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
