Iltija Mufti, 35, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, was granted a regular passport on Friday by the Regional Passport Office in Srinagar, months after she was issued a country-specific two-year passport.
“I finally got a 10-year passport after a long-drawn battle that lasted 18 months. It’s a huge relief but sad to see that an intelligence agency here has been given carte blanche by GOI (Government of India) to harass and punish Kashmiris by depriving them of something as basic yet a fundamental right like a passport,” Ms. Mufti told The Hindu.
She said a fresh copy of a regular passport was handed over to her on Friday in Srinagar.
Ms. Mufti had applied for a passport in June 2022. Later, she pleaded before the high court following her decision to “go for an educational course to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)“. The Regional Passport Office, after the court intervention, only issued a country-specific passport valid for two years in April this year.
The point-to-point passport was granted after the Jammu and Kashmir Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in a rare move, submitted an adverse report against her and classified the report as “Top Secret” under the Official Secret Act (OSA). The police verification report received from the Special Director General of Police (CID) Jammu and Kashmir on February 17, 2023, was duly classified as “Top Secret” under the provision of OSA.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Ms. Mehbooba and her mother’s passport were also withheld after adverse police verification.
In February this year, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to Union Ministry of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and raised the issue of delay in issuing passports to the Muftis.
