Govt issues passport to hardliner Geelani

An official in the Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Srinagar confirmed the development. “Geelani has been issued a short-duration passport with a nine-month validity,” said official sources.

Geelani’s application for a passport was rejected in May on grounds of incomplete information 

provided to the government. Geelani had applied for the passport online apparently to visit his ailing daughter in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The External Affairs Ministry, which issues passports, had then said that “the application could not be processed in its present form”.

As per the new rules, an applicant must visit the passport office in person to give biometric details and get his/ her photograph clicked.

“An incomplete passport application was received from him. Fees were not paid and the biometric details and photographs not submitted,” spokesperson in MEA Vikas Swarup had said.

Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling coalition partners Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were sharply divided over the Geelani passport issue.

The PDP had said it would approach the Centre for giving passport to Geelani on “humanitarian” grounds, while the BJP was of the view that he should not be given the travel document till he “apologised” for his anti-national activities.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had said that the Centre should issue passport to Geelani on "humanitarian” grounds.