news details |
|
|
| Anti-India Geelani gets Indian passport | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, July 21: The Government of India has issued a passport to the Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani one and half month after he (Geelani) completed formalities for issuance of an Indian passport.
The Regional Passport Officer (RPO) Firdous Iqbal said: "A passport has been sent to Geelani on his address through post."
The issue of granting passport to Geelani had stirred the hornet's nest triggering a political debate with ruling BJP opposing it saying that he should declare his nationality as Indian and apologize for his "anti-national" activities. However, its ally PDP had said it would ask the Union government to issue passport to Geelani on humanitarian grounds.
Last month Geelani had appeared at Regional Passport Office on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar to give his biometrics, necessary for the issuance of passport. He had mentioned 'Indian' in the nationality column at the passport office. But talking to reporters outside the passport office, he said, "I am not an Indian by birth. It is a compulsion."
The Hurriyat hardliner, who leaves no opportunity to praise Pakistan and lash out at India, had stated that he wants to visit Saudi Arabia to see his ailing daughter, who had reportedly suffered a stroke.
Geelani applying for the passport and Jammu and Kashmir government showing its keenness to oblige him had triggered sharp reaction from the nationalist forces. "The Indian passport is meant for the Indian citizens and not the anti-national elements," many leaders had opined.
The BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir who had opposed the idea of issuing the passport to Geelani while talking to Early Times said: "Geelani admitting that he is an Indian is the victory of the nationalist forces and it has vindicated our stand that separatists too have started believing that Azadi and Pakistan are a myth. It's an indication that Geelani too wants to join the mainstream. "
Asked did BJP succumb under pressure from its coalition partner PDP to give passport to Geelani, as PDP wanted to appease the hardliner Jehangir said: "The decision to give passport to Geelani has been taken by the Ministry of External Affairs and PDP has got nothing to do with it."
A critic while reacting to the development said: "It's strange that hundreds of people in Jammu and Kashmir have been denied passport on the grounds that they are involved in anti-India activities but a person who has been spearheading the anti-India campaign has been given the passport."
He said, "Giving passport to Geelani would encourage the separatists. It has made it clear that separatists are above the law." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
