2015, replacing Showkat Ahmad Beigh. Sajad Hussain Ganai replaced him as deputy commissioner of Bandipora. Faesal on 26 March 2016 was temporarily given the additional charge of the vice-chairman of J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority while Sarmad Hafeez had been sent to Hyderabad for the IAS Induction Training Programme. During his stint as director of school education, he faced a months-long shutdown of schools during the 2016 Kashmir unrest, causing him to sarcastically post on Facebook that he needed a job, which invited varied comments. Ajaz Ahmad Bhat took over the charge from him on 18 October 2016, after he had been transferred to J&K State Power Development Corporation and made its managing director. He was transferred from his post to that of an administrative secretary to the state tourism department in May 2018, however was later asked to remain on his current post. Faesal also received the Fulbright-Nehru Masters's Fellowship in May 2018 to study at the Harvard Kennedy School. He tendered his resignation from the IAS on 9 January 2019 citing "unabated killings" in Kashmir among other things, through a Facebook post. He was also generally disillusioned with his role as a bureaucrat, which included jailing people and imposing curfews. In April 2022, he presented an application for withdrawing his resignation & was reinstated in the service, and in August 2022, he was posted as Deputy Secretary in Union Ministry for Tourism. Political career On 4 February 2019, Faesal Shah began his political life by giving a public speech in his hometown of Kupwara. During this speech he compared his experience in the IAS with feeling like having "spent the last 10 years in a jail." On 25 February 2019, he announced during a live debate on NDTV that he is launching his own political party and has already applied to the Election Commission regarding this. On 16 March 2019 he announced through Facebook that he would be launching his own political party on 17 March, the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples' Movement (JKPM), at a football ground in Rajbagh area, Srinagar. Faesal formed the JKPM on 21 March and stated it would provide a political platform to the youth as well as veteran politicians with a clean image. He later announced that it will not contest the 2019 Indian general election to focus more on outreach, and encouraged people to vote for the right politicians. He also