The Indian government has refused to issue passport to former chief minister of Indian occupied Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti citing ‘national security concerns’.
Mehbooba Mufti took to social media to apprise that Indian Passport Office has turned down her passport issuance request on CID’s report.
“Passport Office refused to issue my passport based on CID’s report citing it as ‘detrimental to the security of India,” she tweeted.
This is the level of normalcy achieved in Kashmir since Aug 2019 that an ex Chief Minister holding a passport is a threat to the sovereignty of a mighty nation, she added.
Passport Office refused to issue my passport based on CID’s report citing it as ‘detrimental to the security of India. This is the level of normalcy achieved in Kashmir since Aug 2019 that an ex Chief Minister holding a passport is a threat to the sovereignty of a mighty nation. pic.twitter.com/3Z2CfDgmJy
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 29, 2021
The Kashmiri leader criticized the Indian government and remarked that the rejection shows the “level of normalcy achieved in Kashmir since August 2019”.
Former IoK CM Omar Abdullah also took to social media to reprimand Indian government over its refusal to issue passport to Mehbooba Mufti.
What a shame J&K police is going along with this farce. How is it that Mehbooba Mufti was not a threat to the nation when her party was allied with the BJP? As Chief Minister she was incharge of the Home Department & head of the Unified Command, now suddenly she’s a threat! https://t.co/Ye1tQmFIIc
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 29, 2021
“What a shame J&K police is going along with this farce. How is it that Mehbooba Mufti was not a threat to the nation when her party was allied with the BJP?” he said.
Omar Abdullah underscored the fact that as CM Mehbooba Mufti was “in-charge” of the occupied territory’s “home department & head of the unified command” and “now suddenly” she has become a “threat”.
Abdullah and Mufti were among hundreds of Kashmiri leaders placed under detention across occupied Kashmir, since August 2019.
They were placed under detention after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government scrapped the special status of occupied Kashmir granted under the Indian Constitution and bifurcated the disputed territory into two union territories of India. Since then, Mufti and Abdullah have been detained multiple times by the Indian government.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was a ‘temporary provision’ that granted special autonomous status to occupied Kashmir.
All the provisions of the Indian constitution which apply to other states were not applicable to occupied Kashmir due to the law.