Shah Faesal detained at Delhi airport, sent back to Srinagar

Faesal had been in Delhi since the government announced its decision on Article 370 this month. Sources said he was detained on the basis of a “perception of threat to public order due to his activities”. The move was based on a report from the J&K administration, they said.

Explained: What is the J&K PSA, under which Shah Faesal has been detained?

“There is a likelihood that political leaders will go abroad and try to foment trouble in the Valley from there,” an official said.

In 2009, Faesal became the first Kashmiri to top the IAS exams. Early this year, he resigned to set up J&K People’s Movement with the aim of joining mainstream politics.

Faesal has been vocal in his criticism of the government’s decision on the removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation. In an interview to The Indian Express published on August 10, he had said: “I see it as a catastrophic turn in our collective history, a day when everybody is feeling that it is a death knell to our identity, our history, our right to our land, our right to our existence.”

With Faesal’s detention, almost all known political leaders from Kashmir are behind bars. Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were detained on the night before the Article 370 announcement. Independent MLA Engineer Rashid was arrested by the NIA in connection with a terror-funding case.