Shah Faesal detained at Delhi airport under Public Safety Act; ex-IAS officer sent back to Kashmir, placed under house arrest

Former civil servant-turned-politician, Shah Faesal, on Wednesday was reportedly detained at Delhi airport while leaving for abroad. The former bureaucrat was reportedly sent back to Kashmir and placed under house arrest, NDTV reported.

Faesal was again detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on his arrival in Srinagar, officials said.

According to the officials, Faesal was bound for Istanbul.

Faesal has made headlines with his controversial remarks on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abolition of Article 370 and the security clampdown which started a week ago.

The former IAS officer has been critical about the abrogation and took to Twitter to vent out his anger.

On Tuesday, Faesal said that after the abolition of Article 370, Kashmir will need a “ non-violent political mass movement for restoration of political rights ”.

Taking to Twitter, Faesal said, “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.”

The Kashmiri politician was severely criticised for his tweet on Eid. While the Jammu and Kashmir residents celebrated Eid with thousands offering prayers at mosques, Faesal said, “There is no Eid. Kashmiris across the world are mourning the illegal annexation of their land. There shall be no Eid till everything that has been stolen and snatched since 1947 is returned.”

The tweet evoked diverse responses on social media, with some accusing Faesal of provoking violence.

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Lieutenant-General (retired) Satish Dua tweeted:

Sad to see such sentiment from those who could be the new hope for A New Kashmir.
Hoping a new breed of leaders will meet aspirations of Kashmiri people, letting reality speak rather than rhetoric.
Please reinvent @shahfaesal & others, don't fall for past templates of leadership https://t.co/benT7ttjrt

— Lt Gen Satish Dua 🇮🇳 (@TheSatishDua) August 12, 2019

Two days after the Narendra Modi government announced the revocation of Article 370, Faesal took to Facebook to say, “Kashmir is experiencing an unprecedented lockdown. Its entire eight million population has been incarcerated like never before.”

Faesal, who quit the IAS in January 2019 citing “unabated killings” in Kashmir, tweeted on 6 August saying, “Unprecedented horror in Kashmir. Everyone is heartbroken. A sense of defeat written on every face. Fall.”

With inputs from PTI