04-07-2023 : IAS officer Shah Faesal, in anticipation of the upcoming hearing of pleas related to the abrogation of Article 370 before the Supreme Court, stated that Article 370 is now a thing of the past and there is no going back. Faesal, a former 2010-batch IAS officer, expressed his views on Twitter, asserting that for many Kashmiris, Article 370 is no longer relevant and the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India is irreversible.
After the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir into Union territories in August 2019, Faesal was detained for over a year. Subsequently, he resigned from the IAS and founded the Jammu Kashmir People’s Movement, a political party, in January 2019. Despite his resignation, the government did not accept it and Faesal was posted to the Union Ministry of Culture.
Faesal had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370. In April 2022, his resignation withdrawal application was accepted by the government, and he was reinstated to his position. However, Faesal later filed an application in the court to remove his name from the list of petitioners who had challenged the scrapping of Article 370.
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. pic.twitter.com/3cgXRWSxW0
— Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) July 4, 2023
Now, almost four years after the abrogation of Article 370, a five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, is scheduled to hear a batch of pleas challenging the decision on July 11. The bench will consider the pleas and may issue directions based on the arguments presented.