The alumni and faculty of the prestigious Harvard University have issued a statement to the Government of India, demanding the release of former IAS officer turned politician and Harvard student Shah Faesal.
A group of 124 people, including students, faculty, alumni and other associated with Harvard University, urged the Indian government “to take credible action keeping in mind the democratic rights of people during the process of bringing peace to the Valley”.
The petition says:
We, members of the student, faculty and alumni community of Harvard University, stand in solidarity for a democratic and peaceful means to ensure stability in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
We are concerned about the latest restrictions and arrests of many local leaders including a Harvard student and politician, Shah Faesal.
We urge the Government to release Shah Faesal and other local leaders. We request the government to take credible action keeping in mind the democratic rights of people during the process of bringing peace to the Valley.
The letter also mentions about former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah who are under detention.
Faesal was on Wednesday detained at airport in New Delhi under the Public Safety Act.
Faesal was going to Istanbul when he was was stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and prevented from boarding a flight.
After resigning from the Indian Administrative Service, former bureaucrat from Jammu and Kashmir in January form the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Movement (JKPM).
He has been posting tweets and Facebook content highly critical of the government’s move abrogating Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and split the state into two Union Territories J&K and Ladakh.