After singing Pakistan’s tune for all these years, hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday declared himself an Indian while completing requisite formalities for a passport. But no sooner did he walk out of the Passport Office, he changed colour and asserted his nationality declaration was a compulsion and he was not an “Indian by birth”.
Geelani, his wife and son are seeking a passport to travel to Saudi Arabia to attend to his ailing youngest daughter Farhat Jabeen. Though he has got limited time passports several times and traveled abroad in the past, his latest submission created a furor as there is strong opposition to granting travel documents to him for his anti-India politics. “Geelani arrived at the Passport Office at the stipulated time and completed all biometric formalities including finger printing,” an official of the Regional Passport Office said.
The 86-year-old chairman of a faction of Hurriyat Conference reached the Passport Seva Kendra on Boulevard Road at 10:15 am. Earlier, police lifted barricades from his Hyderpora residence where Geelani was under house-arrest for more than a month. In March, he held a mammoth public rally in Tral town of South Kashmir where Pakistani flags were hoisted. The authorities put him under house arrest after the rally.
Geelani mentioned himself as “Indian” in the nationality column. A huge contingent of media was awaiting Geelani outside the Passport Office and confronted him with a barrage of questions.
Geelani said that he was not an Indian and mentioned himself as Indian under compulsion. “I am not an Indian. We are under occupation. Traveling on Indian passport is our compulsion”, he said.
Geelani's spokesman, Ayaz Akbar said in a statement: “Geelani is challenging Indian occupation of Kashmir for the past 50 years. If this is a crime, he is committing this crime and would continue to commit it.”
The ruling PDP and BJP were not on the same page on granting passport to Geelani. While PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti favoured passport for Geelani and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar declared it a “humanitarian issue”, the BJP highlighted the “anti-national credentials” of the separatist leader to thwart his foreign journey.
However, the controversy rested for a while when the Union Government stated that Geelani has not completed the requisite formalities after filing the application form online.
Geelani is seeking to travel to Jeddah to meet his ailing daughter who is reportedly terminally-ill.
During the previous UPA regime, he was allowed to perform Hajj on a limited-period passport but the travel documents were not issued subsequently.