Farooq Khan, advisor to J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, on Sunday submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and is likely to plunge into J&K’s politics, with Assembly elections likely to be announced later this year.
Sources close to Mr. Khan said the resignation has been submitted and awaits formal acceptance from the MHA.
Mr. Khan, who joined the BJP in 2014, was among the key faces who oversaw the erstwhile State of J&K’s transition into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019, when the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional position.
Mr. Khan has worked closely with a Governor and two Lieutenant Governors since July 2019, when he was first appointed as an advisor to J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik.
Mr. Khan, considered a BJP loyal, has served the party as in-charge of its Minority Morcha in the past. His grandfather, Colonel Peer Mohammad, was the first State president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in J&K.
Mr. Khan, a Dogri-speaking Muslim, is likely to help the party garner Muslim votes in the Jammu division, especially in the Pir Panjal Valley and the Chenab Valley.
Having worked in Nagaland and served as an administrator of Lakshadweep, Mr. Khan is also an old hand on Kashmir affairs, where he served as Inspector General of Police in the 1990s and is known for his iron-hand treatment of militancy with the help of the Special Task Force headed by him 1995.
