Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday appeared before passport authorities and declared himself as an Indian while completing formalities for travel documents but insisted that he did it out of “compulsion”.
“Geelani submitted his biometric data - finger prints and iris scan - at the designated counter,” an official of the Regional Passport Office in Srinagar said.
I am not by birth Indian. It is a compulsion.
-Syed Ali Shah Geelani
The 88-year-old hardline Hurriyat leader, who wants to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia, reached the Passport Seva Kendra in Srinagar at the scheduled time of his appointment at 10.15 AM.
He mentioned ‘Indian’ in the nationality column, the official said.
BJP Did Not Want to Give Geelani a Passport
The issue of granting a passport to Geelani had sparked a political debate with the ruling BJP party opposing it saying that he should declare his nationality as Indian and apologise for his anti-national activities.
However, its ally PDP had favoured the move while former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said it was not an issue as Geelani had been given a passport in the past too.
An incomplete passport application was received from him (Geelani). Fees were not paid and the biometric details and photographs not submitted.
-Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs
The Home and External Affairs ministries had said, a fortnight ago, that Geelani’s passport application was incomplete and could not be processed.
The Centre had said it would examine Geelani’s application on merit once he completed all formalities.
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