Shah Faesal releases party ‘vision’ ahead of launching J&K People’s Movement; resolving Kashmir issue top priority

Hours before launching his political outfit Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement on Sunday, IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal released his party’s vision document, which lays emphasis on resolving the Kashmir dispute peacefully.

The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement will work to fulfill the aspirations of the people of the state and make them “politically empowered, economically prosperous, socially emancipated, ethically evolved, culturally enlightened and environmentally conscious”, the vision statement read.

[caption id=“attachment_4716541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of IAS officer Shah Faesal. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Faesal will launch the party at Rajbagh in Srinagar on Sunday, with the aim to keep politics in the state corruption-free, clean and transparent. He had resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in January to protest unabated killings in Kashmir and the maginalisation of Muslims in India. Faesal had also criticised the Centre for exercising influence on the Reserve Bank of India, Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Investigation Agency. The vision document also mentioned that the party will leverage Jammu and Kashmir’s location as a gateway to Central Asia as “a ‘Look Up-North’ center for the subcontinent”. “The party shall work towards reviving the centrality of Jammu and Kashmir state to the ancient Silk Route civilisation so that Jammu and Kashmir can reemerge as a corridor of peace between various South Asian neighbours,” the document read. Apart from protecting the special status given to the state and ensuring equal rights and opportunities and empowerment of marginalised communities, women and disadvantaged sections, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement shall seek to promote a culture of tolerance. The vision document also mentioned that the party will work towards the peaceful return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland. Faesal’s exit from bureaucracy and entry into politics comes at the heels of the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in Jammu and Kashmir in five phases. The state will vote on 11, 18, 23 and 29 April and 6 May. The votes will be counted on 23 May.