The External Affairs Ministry has said that Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s passport application cannot be processed in its present form as it is incomplete. Responding to a media query MEA spokesman, Vikas Swarup said, the application received from Geelani is incomplete.
He said, fees also have not been paid and the biometric details and photographs are not submitted.
The separatist leader and his wife had submitted an online application for passport so that they could travel to Saudi Arabia to visit their ailing daughter.
Earlier, the Home Ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi that Government will process the passport request of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to visit Saudi Arabia on merit. He said the passport is the right of every Indian citizen and is issued by the External Affairs Ministry after following due process.
Reacting to the issue, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had also said there is a need to take a rational call on the issuance of passport to separatist leader. When asked weather there is any black list in which Geelani’s name figures, the Minister said he can not spell out details as the list is not static.