The Ministry of External Affairs issued a passport to hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Tuesday. The limited-time passport will enable Geelani to travel to Saudi Arabia to visit his ailing daughter.
Regional Passport Officer Firdous Iqbal confirmed that international passport has been dispatched on Geelani’s address through registered post according to procedures. However, Geelani’s office said that it would react to the development after receiving the documents.
Geelani had applied for the passport in May this year along-with his wife and son for traveling to Saudi Arabia to see his ailing daughter Farhat Jabeen who lives in Jeddah with her husband. While his wife and son were called for biometrics immediately after filing the application form, Geelani’s submission was mired into controversy with many political sections opposing it in the backdrop of Geelani’s secessionist stance.
On June 5, Geelani arrived at Regional Passport Office in Srinagar to complete requisite formalities for passport declaring himself as Indian. He quoted controversy by saying that his nationality declaration was a compulsion and he was not “Indian by birth”.
The ruling PDP and BJP were not on the same page on granting passport to Geelani. While the 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.
The issue is likely to create controversy at a time when Parliament began Monsoon Session on Tuesday.