SRINAGAR: A day after some unnamed top ministers from Mufti cabinet had expressed that their government would ensure hassle free travel documents to hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, BJP on Sunday came out with a statement asking the separatist leader to apologise and accept that he is an Indian to get the passport and other travel documents from the government.
Khalid Jehangir, the BJP spokesman in Kashmir said, Passport cannot be given to Geelani till he apologises for the mistakes he has committed during the past 25 years. Passports are issued to Indian citizens and not the ones who dont believe in India and its democracy.
The statement further read, If Geelani sahib wants the passport then he has to fall in the line and follow law of the land.
The BJP spokesman said that if Geelani acknowledges that he is an Indian and he wont indulge in anti- Indian activities in future, then the government of India will consider his request.
According to the BJP spokesmans statement,Geelani sahib should admit that he has pursued a wrong ideology for his entire life and has pushed people of Jammu and Kashmir towards darkness and wilderness. Its high time for him to accept his follies and join the mainstream.
Earlier, Syed Ali Shah Geelani had applied for obtaining the passport online on Friday along with his wife and son Naseem Geelani. The senior leader intends to travel to Jeddah to meet his ailing daughter who is believed to be in a critical condition and under medical observation, a report said.
Currently, Geelani does not possess any travel document or the passport as it was seized by the authorities way back in 1981.
But in 2007 Geelanis passport was temporarily released on medical grounds for travelling to US, after the intervention of then PM Manmohan Singh.
The passport was issued through the Tatkal basis and it was valid for just one year.
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