Shah Faesal Condemns Pulwama Attack, Rues Military Solution in J&K

“It really hurts seeing death and destruction in Kashmir,” Shah Faesal said at an event in Delhi on Friday.

Former IAS officer Shah Faesal speaking at an event in Delhi. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Former IAS officer Shah Faesal on Friday, 15 February, condemned the Pulwama terror attack, offering condolences to the families of the 40 CRPF jawans who were killed.

Speaking at a Centre of Policy Analysis event in Delhi on the 'Way forward in Kashmir', the 35-year-old Kashmiri said it was hard to speak after what had happened in J&K a day earlier.

"It really hurts seeing death and destruction in Kashmir," he asserted.

On the situation prevailing in the Valley, Faesal said a decline on multiple levels can be observed today.

If this continues, we'll see an 'extended present' in the future where the situation may be far worse, characterised by continuing violence and widening lines of division, he added.

‘If the Situation Continues, We Can Have an Afghanistan in North India’

Faesal, who left the service to pursue a career in politics, rued how killings in the Valley have just become a statistic for the poll machine to go on.

“Escalation in violence has happened in the last four to five years... Definitely, those people are to blame who have been [promoting] a certain brand of nationalism.”

Shah Faesal in Delhi

Emphasising on the need for dialogue, Faesal urged the intellectual class to revive the bonds with Kashmir and speak more about the region.

"We have an entire population of youngsters who are ready to pick up guns... We cannot have a military solution... [If the situation continues], we may have a Syria or Afghanistan in north India," he said.

Speaking in the context of protracted violence that the state of Jammu and Kashmir has seen, the 35-year-old further pointed that religious radicalisation is not a cause, but a consequence of conflict.

Faesal, who quit from service in January, had said earlier that his resignation was to protest against "unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union government; the marginalisation 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 J&K and growing culture of intolerance and hate in mainland India in the name of hypernationalism.”

At least 40 jawans were killed in the deadly terror attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed on a convoy in Pulwama's Awantipora area on Thursday.