IAS officer Faesal who challenged abrogation of Article 370 in SC now describes it 'a thing of the past'

In an interesting twist days before a 5-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is due to hear a batch of petitions against the abrogation of Article 370, IAS officer Shah Faesal, who was one of the main petitioners against the government’s action, on Tuesday described the constitutional provision as “a thing of the past”.

- SP SHARMA

“370, for many Kashmiris like me, is a thing of the past. Jhelum and Ganga have merged in the great Indian Ocean for good. There is no going back. There is only marching forward,” Mr Faesal tweeted.

Mr Faesal was among the petitioners who had approached the Supreme Court challenging the Modi government’s 5 August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and also split the state into two Union Territories ~ Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

A 2010-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) topper, Mr Faesal was detained for more than a year after the provisions of Article 370 were abrogated. He resigned from service and launched the Jammu Kashmir People’s Movement, a political party, in January 2019.