Shah Faesal finally released from detention, but has very little left to speak about

The Jammu and Kashmir administration finally released Shah Faesal, the chief of newly-minted political party ‘Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement’, after a nearly nine month long detention. Two senior PDP leaders – Sartaj Madni, the uncle of former Chief Mininster Mehbooba Mufti and Peer Mansoor Hussain – have also been freed.

Faesal's sudden release could be seen as the initiation of political process in Jammu & Kashmir. The political activities in the Valley stand frozen since last August when government did away with the special position of Jammu & Kashmir. The larger question, however, remains as to whether Faesal will publically speak about the developments that followed the radical August 5 move or will choose to remain silent like the father-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah.

Faesal, a former IAS officer and alumni ofHarvard Kennedy School made his foray into the politics in 2019. Barely four months after he floated his own political party, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government read down the special provisions of Jammu & Kashmir and broke it up into two Union Territories.

Like hundreds of political leaders, including three former chief ministers, Faesal was taken into the preventive custody and later booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).

Faesal had joined politics with brand new ideas and great political aspirations. Besides resolving to work for sustainable peace in Jammu & Kashmir, Faesal in his vision document had talked about using the geo-strategic position of the Valley as a gateway to Central Asia.

Protecting the special position of Jammu & Kashmir was also one of the key points of Faesal's political roadmap.

Faesal was the part of the August 4 "Gupkar Declaration" which called for the unification of all parties in their fight against the infringement of special provisions of Jammu & Kashmir.

Before his arrest on August 14 at Delhi airport, Faesel had billed the August 5 move as "the demise of mainstream politics in Kashmir".

"The abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A will have long lasting bearings on the politics of Jammu & Kashmir. It has, for sure, shrunk the political space for pro-India political parties,"said a Valley-based Kashmir watcher of long standing.

Since last August, the political landscape of Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed only a few directed and guided political activities. The elections to Block Development Councils (BDCs) held last October were considered as rather farcical by both the Opposition political parties and observers. The elections were held on party basis at a time when the leaders of all Opposition political parties had been incarcerated.

On March 8 this year, the Valley witnessed another political development when former state minister Altaf Bukhari cobbled together some two dozen-odd former belligerent lawmakers, mostly from PDP, and constituted a new political party called ‘Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party’. In the Valley, the party has, however, been largely labelled as the ‘B-team of Bharatiya Janata Party’, formed by a band of quislings from both National Conference and PDP.

The release of Faesal is being seen in the backdrop of a recent article by BJP leader Ram Madhav, in which he called for the revival of political activity in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the August 5 move has left very little for Faesal's JKPM to speak about. Its vision document has been rendered more or lessirrelevant.

In the coming days, it will be interesting to see if Faesal is able to take a clearer view on the politics of Jammu & Kashmir or keeps mute like the Abdullahs.