Former bureaucrat Shah Faesal moves Delhi High Court challenging his detention at IGI Airport

Civil servant-turned-politician Shah Faesal was on Monday moved the Delhi High Court challenging his detention at the Delhi airport, nearly a week ago. On August 14, Shah was detained by the police in the national capital just before he was set to fly abroad and later being sent back to Kashmir. The court has sought the response of the Centre and fixed the matter for hearing on Friday.

The former IAS officer, who had first grabbed headlines by topping the UPSC examination, has been critical of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government’s move to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. Taking to Twitter, Faesal had said that there were two choices before the Kashmiris – to be a stooge or to be a separatist.

“Kashmir will need a long, sustained, non-violent political mass movement for restoration of the political rights. Abolition of Article 370 has finished the mainstream. Constitutionalists are gone. So you can either be a stooge or a separatist now. No shades of grey,” his tweet read.

Shah Faesal had in March 2019 launched his own political party – J&K People’s Movement.