8 years after militants killed dad, J&K’s Faesal tops IAS

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Srinagar/New Delhi, May 6: Eight years after Faesal Rasool Shah’s schoolteacher father Gulam Rasool Shah was slain by militants at Sogam, his native village in Kupwara, this 27-year-old Srinagar doctor has topped the 2009 Civil Services Examination in his very first attempt.

Faesal’s mother Mubeena said Thursday she felt “on top of the world” when her son telephoned from New Delhi with the great news. “Believe me, I can’t express myself. All I can say is: my happiness knows no bounds. He has done Kashmir and its people proud,” Mubeena told this newspaper.
Not just the Shah family and their neighbours at Hyderpora’s Gulbahar Colony, the entire state is celebrating. Said chief minister Omar Abdullah: “He has kept the head of Kashmir high.”
Faesal, who got his MBBS last year from the Jhelum Valley Medical College and recently completed his internship at the Srinagar Government Medical College, was ecstatic on the phone from New Delhi: “It was very demanding, but I managed.” The top 25 rank holders include 10 women. Prakash Rajpurohit, a B. Tech. from IIT Delhi, came second, while Iva Sahay, M.A. (Geography) from JNU, was third. Altogether 875 candidates, including 195 women, will join the different services.
 

Yusuf Jameel                               
With bureau inputs