Reacting to the resignation of Shah Faesal, the first Kashmiri IAS topper, from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said it is a sad development, adding that world will take note of his cry of anguish and defiance.

“Though sad, I salute Shah Faesal IAS (now resigned). Every word of his statement is true and is an indictment of the BJP government. The world will take note of his cry of anguish and defiance,” Chidambaram tweeted.

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Though sad, I salute Mr @shahfaesal IAS (now resigned). Every word of his statement is true and is an indictment of the BJP government. The world will take note of his cry of anguish and defiance.

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— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 10, 2019

Chidambaram also referred to the retired police officer Julio Ribeiro who led the Punjab Police during the insurgency.

“Not long ago, Ribeiro, the legendary police officer, said the same thing, but there was not a word of reassurance from the rulers. Such statements from our fellow citizens must make us hang our heads in regret and shame,” Chidambaram added.

Not long ago Mr Rebeiro, the legendary police officer, said the same thing, but there was not a word of reassurance from the Rulers. Such statements from our fellow citizens must make us hang our heads in regret and shame.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 10, 2019

Faesal had, on Wednesday, announced that he had quit the IAS service as a mark of protest against the unabated killings in Jammu and Kashmir and against the marginalisation of Indian Muslims by the Hindutva forces, reducing them to second class citizens.

There were reports that he would join the National Conference (NC) and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Valley. He had said he would be making a formal announcement in this regard on Friday in a media interaction.

Faesal had recently returned after a stint as a Fulbright fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and put in his papers for voluntary retirement from IAS.

“To protest the unabated killings in Kashmir and absence of any credible political initiative from Union Government, I have decided to resign from IAS. Kashmiri lives matter. I will be addressing a press-conference on Friday,” he had tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.

Giving the reasons that have provoked him to quit the IAS, Faesal said, “The marginalisation and invisibilisation of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens.”

He further said that his resignation was also due to “insidious attacks on the special identity of the J-K state and growing culture of intolerance and hate in the mainland India in the name of hypernationalism”.

Attacking the Modi government, Faesal said, “I wish to remind the regime of the day that subversion of public institutions like RBI, CBI, and NIA has the potential to decimate the Constitutional edifice of this country and it needs to be stopped. I wish to reiterate that voices of reason in this country cannot be muzzled for long and the environment of siege will need to end if we wish to usher in true democracy.”

Faesal had topped the civil service exam in 2009.