E-Paper
Mufti seeks Jaishankar’s intervention for renewal of passports
The PDP on Monday released contents of the letter to the media, saying that the issue of Mufti’s daughter Iltija’s passport is also in limbo for the last one year
: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti has sought the intervention of external affairs minister S Jaishankar over the delay in renewal of her passport along with her mother, saying that the matter has been “needlessly dragged” for the last three years.
The PDP on Monday released contents of the letter to the media, saying that the issue of Mufti’s daughter Iltija’s passport is also in limbo for the last one year.
PDP president Mufti and her mother Gulshan Nazir had approached passport office in Srinagar for renewal of their passports in 2020. Later, Mufti moved the Jammu and Kashmir high court for issuance of fresh passports.
“We moved the J&K high court and after the case dragged on for three years, the court gave clear directions that the regional passport office in Srinagar shouldn’t operate as CID’s mouthpiece by denying passports on vague grounds,” reads the letter.
Former chief minister Mufti also alleged that the passport issue has been “needlessly dragged” by the government from past three years.
Mufti said that Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of J&K police gave an adverse report against her daughter and mother.
“J&K CID gave an adverse report that issuing passports to my 80-year-old mother and me would undermine national security. In J&K, it has become the norm to arbitrarily reject passport applications of thousands, including journalists, students and others by misusing national interest as a pretext,” Mufti said.
The former J&K chief minister said that she was directed to approach Passport Authority of India.
“In my case, I was asked to approach the Passport Authority of India which I have done multiple times since 2021. Unfortunately, I have not received a positive response yet. The inordinate and deliberate delay in issuing my passport is a grave violation of my fundamental right. If suspending my basic rights in a democracy like ours is done with such brazen impunity and contempt, one can’t even imagine what an ordinary Kashmiri goes through,” she said.
Mufti said her daughter Iltija Mufti hasn’t been issued a passport from last one year. She had applied for a new passport.
“The application of my daughter is also in limbo. It seems that the Passport Office in Srinagar is yet again failing to discharge its duty,” she said.
PDP president further said that for the last three years, she had been waiting eagerly to take her mother on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
“As a daughter, I feel pained and anguished to be unable to fulfill such a simple wish because of petty politics. I write to you hoping that you will look into the matter urgently,” she said.
