Kashmir IAS topper Shah Faesal slams media for putting him in same frame as Burhan Wani

Srinagar: Celebrated IAS topper from Jammu and Kashmir Shah Faesal, who heads the education department in the Valley, Friday lashed out at the “national media” for making him part of its “sadistic propaganda” and drawing his comparison with slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani. [caption id=“attachment_2896572” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Shah Fesal. Facebook[/caption] The angry reaction from the Director (School Education) came after some TV channels, during their primetime shows on the ongoing Kashmir unrest, aired Faesal’s pictures alongside Wani’s bullet-ridden body. “By juxtaposing my photos with the images of a slain militant commander, a section of national media has once again fallen back upon its conventional savagery that cashes on falsehoods, divides people and creates more hatred,” Faesal, who topped the coveted civil services exam in 2009, wrote on his Facebook page.

Wani was killed on 8 July and his death has triggered a violent wave of unrest in the valley that has left more than 40 people dead in street clashes between protesters and security forces. While Kashmir was “mourning its dead, the propaganda and provocation being dished out from red and blue newsrooms is breeding more alienation and anger in Kashmir than what (the) Indian state can manage,” he regretted in his Facebook post.

Faesal threatened to resign “sooner or later” if the “nonsense” continued. “Personal vulnerability apart, the very fact of becoming a part of a ridiculous debate is something which has disturbed me very much. Have I joined IAS to do a job or to become a part of your sadistic propaganda machine?” he asked. “In fact when I qualified this exam I never thought of spending my whole life scratching the desk and if this nonsense around me continues, I might prefer to resign sooner than later,” he added. Another IAS officer, Ruveda Salam, assistant commissioner at Ministry of Finance, echoed the same emotion in support of Fesal saying that non-Kashmiris should first read about the entire history of Jammu and Kashmir before making lewd comments about their character.