Hurriyat flays suspension of Geelani's passport

SRINAGAR: Hardline Hurriyat Conference today said the temporary suspension of the passport of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has "no moral or constitutional justification" and raises questions over the democratic credentials of the country.

"The suspending of the passport is a big question mark over the democratic claims of India," a Hurriyat spokesman said, adding the decision has "no moral or constitutional justification".

The government had yesterday suspended Geelani's passport for four weeks to prevent him from attending conference of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in New York.

The Hurriyat spokesman said the Centre was "scared" of Geelani's participation in the international events and asked the OIC to take serious note of it.

Geelani was invited by the OIC to the New York conference and he had decided to participate in the event, he said.

"In this respect he had applied for visa from the USA Embassy in New Delhi and had received green signal in that matter, but on September 22, Srinagar passport office informed us through email that Geelani Sahab's passport has been suspended," the spokesman said.