Government issues passport to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani was issued a passport on Tuesday a month after he completed formalities for the travel document.

Regional passport officer Firdous Iqbal said the passport would be valid for just one-and-a-half month.

Geelani had applied for the passport in May. It had triggered a political debate with ruling BJP opposing it saying he should declare himself an Indian and apologize for his "anti-national" activities for the passport.

But Jammu & Kashmir's ruling People's Democratic Party had said it would ask the Center to issue the passport on humanitarian grounds.

Geelani completed the biometrics formalities last month and mentioned Indian as his nationality. "I am not Indian by birth Indian. It is a compulsion," he had said.

The separatist had applied for the passport to see his terminally ill daughter in Saudi Arabia.