In a bid to stop All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from attending a meeting of Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in US, the Indian government on Tuesday suspended his passport for four weeks.
Geelani had been invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from OIC member states, scheduled to be held in New York on September 27. According to Times of India, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and another Kashmiri leader had also been invited to attend the meeting apart from Geelani. However, it was not immediately clear whether Farooq’s passport too had been suspended.
The Hurriyat leader had been issued a new passport just three months ago in July. That move came a month after the government had rejected an ‘incomplete’ application from him in June.
After the APHC chairman’s passport was suspended, the group said India was “afraid” of Geelani speaking before an international forum.