Last Update: February 20, 2023, 16:40 IST
In March 2021, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and her mother were denied passports by the Jammu and Kashmir Police citing “adverse reports”. (File photo: PTI)
In a letter to the minister, she said that the renewal of her passport is pending as the Jammu and Kashmir CID has given an adverse report that issuing travel documents to her would undermine national security.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday sought External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s intervention for her passport, saying she has been waiting for it for the last three years to take her 80-year-old mother on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
In a letter to the minister, he said that the renewal of his passport is pending as the Jammu and Kashmir CID has given an adverse report that issuing travel documents to him would undermine national security. Mehbooba also highlighted the delay in issuing passport to her daughter Iltija, who wants to pursue higher education outside the country.
“I am writing to you regarding a matter which has been unnecessarily dragged for the last three years”, said the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and added that “My mother (Gulshan Nazir) and I had applied for passport renewal in March 2020. had applied for.
“The J&K CID gave an adverse report that issuing passports to my 80-year-old mother and me would undermine national security. In Jammu and Kashmir, arbitrary rejection of passport applications of thousands of people, including journalists, students and others, has become the norm, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader said in his letter.
She said they approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and after the case “dragged on” for three years, the court gave clear directions that the Regional Passport Office in Srinagar should be the ‘mouthpiece’ of the CID by denying passports on vague grounds. Shouldn’t work as is.
“In my case, I was told to approach the passport authority India Which I have done many times since 2021. Unfortunately, I haven’t received a positive response yet. The inordinate and willful delay in issue of my passport is a gross violation of my fundamental right.
She said that “if the suspension of my basic rights in a democracy like ours is done with such shamelessness and contempt, then one cannot even imagine what an ordinary Kashmiri goes through”.
The PDP leader said, “My daughter Iltija had applied for renewal of her passport in June 2022.
For the past three years, “I have been eagerly waiting for my mother to take me on a pilgrimage to Mecca”, she said and added that “as a daughter, I am unable to fulfill such a simple wish due to pettiness.” I feel pain and suffering for being unable.” Politics”.
“I am writing to you in the hope that you will look into this matter immediately,” she said in her letter to the foreign minister.
Last week, Iltija had filed a petition in the High Court for issue of passport, saying she urgently needed the travel document to pursue higher education outside the country.
The 35-year-old had said in the petition that his passport expired on January 2 and he had applied for a new passport in advance on June 8 last year.
In March 2021, Mehbooba and her mother were denied passports after the Jammu and Kashmir Police cited “adverse reports”.
Mehbooba’s passport expired on May 31, 2019, and she applied for a new one on December 11 the following year, while her mother, wife of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, applied for a passport in 2020 to make the pilgrimage. had applied for. Saudi Arab.
Mehbooba’s passport application is still pending but the authorities issued her mother’s passport earlier this month after the High Court gave fresh instructions to the passport officer.
read all latest politics news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)