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Ex-J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti issued passport 3 years after applying for renewal
Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija said the passport was issued to her mother before the deadline given by a Delhi court was set to expire.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has been issued a passport with 10-year validity, three years after she applied for a renewal, her daughter Iltija Mufti said on Sunday.
Read here: Former Jammu & Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti issued passport after three years
In March, a Delhi court directed the passport authority to decide within three months on issuing fresh travel document to Mufti. According to Iltija, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief’s passport expired in 2019 and she applied for its renewal in 2020, after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 in the erstwhile state.
“My mother received her passport after three years. She had applied for passport renewal in 2020... The passport was issued to her before the deadline given by the Delhi court was set to expire,” Iltija told HT.
The Delhi court order had come on a petition by Mehbooba seeking direction to the passport authorities to take an early decision on her appeal regarding the issuance of a new passport. “Considering that the matter is remanded back to the passport officer and the initial rejection was two years ago, let the passport officer concerned take a decision expeditiously and in any case within three months,” justice Prathiba M Singh noted in the order in March this year.
Mehbooba said in her plea that there was a considerable delay in issuing a new passport to her despite reminders. She said no decision was being taken on her appeal.
The central government’s counsel informed the court that an order was passed on the appeal on March 2 and the matter had been sent to the passport officer in J&K for reconsideration.
In February this year, Mehbooba sought the intervention of external affairs minister S Jaishankar for the issuance of the passport, saying she had been waiting for it for the past three years to take her 80-year-old mother on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She said that the matter was “needlessly dragged” for three years. “J&K Police had given an adverse report and denied passports to my mother and me, saying that it would undermine national security. In J&K, it has become a norm to arbitrarily reject passport application of thousands, including journalists, students and others by misusing national interest as a pretext,” she said.
Read here: Not a criminal or terrorist, will continue to fight for my passport in court: Iltija
Mehbooba’s mother, Gulshan Ara, was also issued a passport two months ago. “My grandmother has also received a passport,” Iltija said, adding that her grandmother’s passport is also valid for 10 years.
The passport given to Mehbooba is valid from June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2033, said people aware of the matter. It came just two days ahead of a hearing in Jammu and Kashmir high court, where Iltija’s plea challenging the decision of the passport office to give her a country-specific passport is to come up.
Iltija has a restricted passport valid for two years and only for a single country – the United Arab Emirates (UAE), she said, adding that it was issued to her in April. “The hearing for my case is in two days... I have been issued a restricted and conditional passport,” she said.
