Kashmiri doctor Shah Faisal tops in IAS 2009

Militants had gunned down Shah’s father in Kupwara village in 2002

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, May 6: Twenty-six-year old Dr Shah Faisal of Sogam, a far-flung village in Lolab valley of Kupwara district, today created history by becoming Jammu & Kashmir state’s first topper of the Indian Civil Services examination in 63 years of the independent India. In its year-long exercise, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has selected 875 incumbents out of 4.09 Lakh candidates who had applied in the country’s toughest and the most prestigious competitive examination.

According to the UPSC notification issued today, Dr Shah Faisal of Sogam, Kupwara, (Roll No 025085) has stood at the top in the merit list of all the 875 candidates selected for the prestigious Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and all other central services in the year 2009. After completing his MBBS from Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS) Medical College, Bemina in March 2009, Shah Faisal has got this historic distinction in his first attempt.

A Bachelor of Technology from IIT Delhi, Prakash Rajpurohit has got the second position in his second attempt for Indian Civil Services examination while as a post-graduate in geography from Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi, Ms Iva Sahay has secured the third position, again in her first attempt. She is the topper among all female candidates selected by UPSC.

A total of 4,09,110 candidates had applied for the examination. As many as 1,93,091 appeared for the preliminary examination and 12,026 qualified for the mains in which 2,432 were shortlisted for personality test in order of merit. UPSC finally selected 875 candidates who have been recommended for appointment to IFS, IAS, IPS and other Central Services.

Of the top 25 candidates, 15 are male and 10 female. Of them, 13 are from Engineering, 9 from Commerce, Management, Humanities, Science and Social Sciences and just 3 from Medical background. While only 4 of the top 25 candidates, including Dr Shah Faisal, have cleared it in their maiden attempt, 4 got the success in second attempt, 11 in third attempt, 3 in fourth attempt and one in seventh attempt. Of the 875 selected, 30 are physically challenged. Those selected include 399 in General category, 273 OBC, 127 Scheduled Caste and 76 Scheduled Tribe.

After a Bihar (Now Jharkhand) cadre IPS officer, Abdul Gani Mir (presently on deputation in J&K as DIG CID), Dr Shah Faisal is the second candidate from the border Kupwara district who has directly cleared the Indian Civil Services examination. Coming from a lower middle class socio-economic background, Faisal’s father, Ghulam Rasool Shah, had joined government service as a Laboratory Assistant after he failed to continue his Bachelor of Engineering. Later, he rose to the position of a teacher and became very popular in entire Lolab valley. However, on July 3rd, 2002, he was gunned down by militants in his village. Neighbours said that a day earlier an outspoken Shah had publicly objected to a Pakistani militant’s attempt of shaking hands with a girl of his neighbourhood.

Even as Ghulam Rasool Shah’s assassination came as a jolt for the family, his wife Mubeena shifted her residence to a rented house in Srinagar and managed to continue the studies of two of her sons and a daughter. Mubeena is a Master, who teaches Kashmiri at Government Boys High School Rawalpora. The family is now living at a relative’s house in Hyderpora locality. Mubeena’s daughter, Talat, has been appointed as a teacher on compassionate grounds under SRO-43 as a result of her father’s killing by militants.

After their Matriculation studies at Government Higher Secondary School Sogam, Kupwara, Mubeena managed both of her sons admission at the Christian Missionary Tyndale Biscoe School in Srinagar. Getting a distinction in his class 12th examination, Faisal was selected for MBBS course which he completed in March 2009 at SKIMS Medical College, Bemina. His younger brother, Shahnawaz, was selected against a reserved seat at a minority Medical College in Riva. He too has, of late, completed his MBBS and is preparing for a masters in medicine.

Determined to make it to IAS, Faisal took a brief course of coaching at Hamdard Study Circle in New Delhi and cleared the prestigious in his maiden attempt.

As news of a Kashmiri candidate’s securing the first position in order of merit in the UPSC examination spread in the Valley, there was remarkable jubilation in all sections of the population. Reports from Sogam and Hyderpora said that hundreds of relatives, acquaintances and well-wishers of the family dropped in with their greetings to the Shah family. Regular recruits of IAS, IPS as also those in Indian Forest Service and other Central Services were seen eagerly looking for telephone numbers of Shah Faisal and other of his family members. Greeting kept pouring in till late tonight. In Delhi, Faisal remained continuously busy while giving interviews to media and receiving felicitations from different corners.

In a message from his overseas visit, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah sent his greetings to Faisal and said that the Kashmiri doctor had done the state of Jammu & Kashmir proud with his unparalleled achievement at the national level. Similar greetings came from Union Minister of Health and former J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. In a message from Manipur, former DGP of J&K, Gopal Sharma, told Early Times :”I feel proud as if my son has topped the IAS. I am so happy for Dr Faisal”.

Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, who is a 1982-Batch IAS officer of J&K cadre, also expressed his happiness over Dr Faisal’s success and wished more and more youth from the state to follow him.

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