IAS officer Shah Faesal, former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid Shora withdraw article 370 petitions

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday (July 11) allowed IAS officer Shah Faesal and former student leader Shehla Rashid Shora to withdraw their petitions challenging the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud allowed Faesal and Shora to withdraw their petitions and directed that their names be deleted from the list of petitioners.

In 2009, Faesal made headlines by topping the civil services entrance exam UPSC - the first Kashmiri to do so. Following several government postings, he resigned from service in 2019 to protest "unabated killings in Kashmir".

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In a Facebook post, he accused the centre of marginalising Indian Muslims and subverting public institutions. He then launched a political party, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples' Movement.

Shehla Rashid, who has served as vice-president of the students' union at Jawaharlal Nehru University, rose to prominence during the agitation demanding the release of several student leaders, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, who were arrested on charges of sedition in 2016.

Kumar is now a Congress leader. Umar Khalid is in jail in connection with a Delhi riots case. Shehla Rashid later joined Shah Faesal's party. 

Following the revocation of Article 370, which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir and resulted in the division of the state into two Union Territories, Faesal, a prominent Kashmiri leader, was among those detained. In August 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples' Movement revealed that Faesal had requested to be relieved of his party membership, and subsequently, Shehla Rashid also departed from the party.

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In 2022, he applied for reinstatement in government service and moved to withdraw his resignation. His application was accepted. In a recent Twitter post, Faesal said Article 370 is now a "thing of the past".

"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," he said.