Separatist JKLF chief Yasin Malik on Monday accused the Congress in Delhi of stalling his meeting with daughter and Pakistan-based wife in Nepal "for electoral gains and to emerge more hardliner than BJP's Narendra Modi ahead of polls".
"The Congress, to prove itself more hardliner than Modi, has started hanging innocent people like (Afzal) Guru, consigning youth of Kashmir to life term in jails and becoming more suppressive than BJP's Modi," alleged Malik in a hurriedly organised press conference on his arrival in Srinagar.
Around 7.30am, the New Delhi airport authorities stopped Malik from travelling to Nepal to see his 19-month-old daughter Razia Sultana and Pakistani wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick, an artist. Malik was stopped at the immigration centre for not possessing a voter identity card.
"I told the immigration official that I have never voted so don't have it. I showed them my state subject, my passport copies but they refused to entertain it," said Malik, who returned to Srinagar by another morning flight.
Malik had planned to meet his family in Nepal after he failed to procure fresh passport this year. Besides, his wife and daughter were not issued visas by the Indian high commission in Islamabad. Malik has been denied renewal of his passport after it expired in March this year.
{{/usCountry}}Malik had planned to meet his family in Nepal after he failed to procure fresh passport this year. Besides, his wife and daughter were not issued visas by the Indian high commission in Islamabad. Malik has been denied renewal of his passport after it expired in March this year.
{{/usCountry}}Apparently, the government's move of not renewing his passport came after Jamaat-ud-Daawah and Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Sayeed participated in a sit-it organised by Malik in Islamabad immediately after Parliament attack convict Guru was hanged on February 9.
Malik has been in touch with Sayeed even in 2006 to buy peace and seek militants' nod for a peace process to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Married in 2009, Malik said as a father it was "painful not to see my daughter". "I am a father of a daughter. Emotionally, it is impossible to live without her... My daughter has every right to visit Kashmir. Today, I realised the pain of 10-12 lakh migrants who are living across the border and dying without seeing their dear ones."
In a scathing attacking on the Congress, Malik said "the tall claims of India being a democracy and economic power are mere hollow slogans".
"(UPA chairperson) Sonia Gandhi ji claims to represent values and ideology of Gandhi. Is this humanism they practise where they stop a father from meeting the daughter? The East India Company allowed jailed Jawaharlal Nehru to see his ailing wife and granted him permission to travel abroad for treatment. Which is harsher imperialism, India's or British," asked Malik.
An angry Malik said "to win electoral race, the Khadi wearing Congressmen have RSS knickers beneath their dresses". "Such moves cannot weaken my resolve," he added.
Malik's wife, who was scheduled to come to Nepal by an afternoon flight from Pakistan, also cancelled her visit.
She had been posting updates on Facebook since Monday morning about Malik being detained in Delhi. The couple keep sharing pictures of Sultana on Facebook.