Thursday, February 7, 2013

Put soothing balm on the wounds of the Kashmiri people

That’s what Faisal Shah, the topper of this year’s civil services examinations wants to be. A qualified doctor, he wants to put soothing balm on the wounds of the Kashmiri people, albeit in the garb of a bureaucrat. So he tells Haroon Reshi
 
Merely a couple of days after the killing of his father, Faisal appeared for the MBBS entrance…and cracked it! He did his MBBS from Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Medical College. “But I was not satisfied with that achievement. My aim was to become either an IAS or an IPS officer. I think that I could not have helped the masses of my conflict-ridden state just as a doctor,” he says.

Faisal was 19 when his father, Ghulam Rasool Shah, a school teacher, was killed by militants in 2002 at his ancestral home in Sogam village, more than 90 km away from Srinagar. “Will you believe that many things that my father taught me in 7th grade came handy in these exams,” asks a visibly elated Faisal. “My father was a visionary. Whatever I achieved today is because of his guidance. I feel sad that today he is not around,” he adds.

Faisal’s younger brother Shah Nawaz is also a doctor and his younger sister Talat Shah is a library assistant. Faisal, who is a great fan of noted poet Dr Allama Iqbal, knows many languages including Urdu, Persian and Arabic. He had taken up Urdu and Public Administration as subjects for the IAS examinations. “Urdu is my passion. I love this language,” he says. The topper believes that his achievement would inspire many youngsters studying in Urdu-medium schools. “I have proven that students of Urdu-medium schools too have great potential and can get through any competitive examination.”

It is a common perception in Kashmir that Muslims of the state are being discriminated against, especially in the civil services examination, so as to keep them away from the administration. But Faisal’s success disproves the opinion. “No one is discriminated against. It is a wrong perception. We ourselves are responsible for not participating in such examinations with full preparedness,” says the civil services topper.

Besides Faisal, three other Kashmiri boys— Showkat Ahmed Parray, a resident of Wizar village in Baramulla district, Mir Umair from Badgam district and Raees Bhat, a resident of Anantnag district, have passed the civil services examinations this year.

The last Kashmiri to have qualified for the IAS was Asghar Hassan Samoon who achieved the feat some 16 years ago. In 1981, Khursheed Ganai from Kashmir stood second in the civil services exam — the highest rank for anybody from J&K till Faisal’s results came. Currently, Ganai is the principal secretary to chief minister Omar Abdullah.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

at