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I begin with a disclaimer. I am an admirer of yours. I admire your clarity of thought and the ease and eloquence with which you express yourself.
You first hit the headlines when you became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services examination. Of late, I have read opinion pieces written by you and watched you on national television, participating in debates and discussing the situation in Kashmir with the kind of frankness one usually does not associate with those in government service.
Please go through my observations on the points you have raised....not as comments from a media person but as someone who has high hopes from you and all young Kashmiris.
In principle I agree with you. Kashmir is too complex an issue for such black and white, simplistic juxtapositions. I also think any comparison between you and Burhan Wani is not just unnecessary and unjustified but also stupid. There was never any competition between the two of you.
Such a juxtaposition in an atmosphere this surcharged needlessly makes you look like the Jaichand to Wani’s Prithviraj in the eyes of those who think of the slain militant as some kind of a martyr. So yes, media can be faulted for its lack of understanding, its failure to see the bigger picture, no sense of timing and yes, insensitivity. Even stupidity.
Cannot agree with you more. Your angst here was against the media. You could have well stopped here.
Now this one got me worried, Shah Faesal. Do you really mean it? Are you spending time scratching your desk? And if this nonsense around you continues, will you resign sooner than later?
I sincerely hope you are not thinking along these lines. Maybe it’s a phase when your angst, frustration and a feeling of helplessness is getting the better of you. I can understand. We all go through such phases and there’s just so much death, tragedy and violence all around you. And yes, no easy way out. No quick fix solutions in sight. Just remember what you said in 2011, soon after you had topped the civil services examination.
You had also said that your selection vindicated your faith in the system which “has evidence of favouritism, but where merit is still respected”. You had also talked about how your selection was a “punch on the nose of those who believe in the stereotype that Kashmir produces only terrorists.”
Surely Mr. Faesal, only 5 years in the system cannot take away all that fire in the belly. You yourself are one great example of the tribe you want more of: Argumentative Indians. And you certainly can argue well. But you need to have the right brief. And you have to hang in there. And keep punching with the confidence and hope that one day you will deliver a knockout blow and smash all those stereotypes and juxtapositions about Kashmir which you so objected to then. And still do.
Now this one’s really sad coming from you. As an IAS officer, you represent the state and this reflects your agony, pain and disillusionment at best and insubordination, indiscipline, even a hint of rebellion, and a threat to “cross over” at worst.
I understand it’s not easy to withstand the pressure, from within and without. But lesser men can buckle under such pressure. Not you. I want to remind you about how you replied to an anonymous post in The Kashmir Walla in March 2012:
We don’t want you as the Chaudhary of India but don’t let them become the Chaudharies of Kashmir.
(Published in an arrangement with IANS)
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