Not joining any party for now: Shah Faesal
SRINAGAR: Shah Faesal, the Kashmiri IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir who recently announced his resignation from bureaucracy, said on Friday he would not join the separatist Hurriyat Conference or any other party for now but would contest the upcoming election in the state. Addressing a media conference in Srinagar, Faesal said, “I am a man from the system and would be happy to change the system by remaining in it.
He further added, “Since the Hurriyat does not subscribe to electoral politics, there is little scope for me to put my administrative skill and experience into practice by joining the Hurriyat.”
He said it was time to ‘reimagine’ the mainstream politics in Jammu and Kashmir and bring the vocabulary of Azadi and plebiscite to the mainstream discourse in the state. “In our political discourse, there are certain taboo words like we should not talk about Azadi or right to self determination or plebiscite. All these things are not necessarily taboo words; if you are in a debate you can discuss these words. I think let mainstream politics open its eyes to this vocabulary and reimagine and own it up,” Faesal said. When asked if he has decided to join the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference, he said it was premature to say that since he would go back to the grassroots and seek ideas as to the best course he should adopt while joining electoral politics.
“I strongly believe that electoral politics is the best means to resolving the issues facing the people of the Valley, Jammu, Ladakh and the Chenab Valley which are important constituents of the state. “I shall be visiting all these places to seek people’s views on my future course,” he said. “Yes, I have decided to fight parliamentary elections, but with which party or as an independent candidate remains yet to be decided”, he said.