Syed Ali Geelani's passport application cannot be processed: MEA

SRINAGAR| NEW DELHI: The external affairs ministry has said that Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani cannot be issued a passport “in the present form” as his application was incomplete and he had not fulfilled certain other criteria.

The MEA response came after the home ministry had said that holding a passport was the right of every Indian citizen and Geelani would be issued a passport by MEA after due process. “We have seen media reports of Mr Syed Ali Geelani’s passport application. An incomplete passport application was received from him. Fees were not paid and the biometric details and photographs not submitted. The application cannot be processed in its present form,” MEA said in a news release on Thursday. Geelani has meanwhile said that he would not complete the basic biometric formalities at the regional passport office as long as he was under house arrest.

However, the police claimed that he was free to go to the passport office and the police cordon outside his house was for security reasons. As of now, at least 12 policemen are deployed outside Geelani’s Hyderpora residence.

“He can go to passport office whenever he wants. But the deployment outside his house cannot be lifted due to security reasons,” deputy inspector-general (Central Kashmir) Ghulam Hassan Bhat told ET.