Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani visited the passport office here on Friday to provide the biometric details to complete the application procedure for getting a passport.
Sources at the office said Mr. Geelani had filled the nationality column as “Indian”. He, however, told The Hindu that the column had to be compulsorily filled, and it did not, in any way, contradict his belief that Kashmir was a disputed territory.
“I went to the office today [Friday] and did the rest of the formalities... I have made it clear that the issue of nationality on the passport is being blown out of proportion … there is no way to travel if the formality of writing ‘Indian’ in the nationality column is not performed,” he said.
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Mr. Geelani said he was not an Indian by birth, since he was born in 1929, or conviction.
He applied for a passport in May to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Geelani, who had been under house arrest, said he could not fill the biometric details earlier and the government had said his application was incomplete.