'Not Indian by birth', says Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani after writing Indian in passport form

Srinagar: Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday wrote Indian in the passport application form but after coming out from the office said he is "not an Indian by birth". The separatist leader applied for a passport as he wants to travel to Saudi Arabia to visit his ailing daughter.

"Geelani submitted his biometric data, finger prints and iris scan, at the designated counter," an official of the Regional Passport Office said.

Talking to reporters outside the passport office, Geelani said, "I am not by birth Indian. It is a compulsion".

A Hurriyat spokesman justified Geelani writing Indian in the nationality column saying "travelling on the Indian passport is a compulsion of every Kashmiri".

But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised objections over issuing an Indian passport to him. The BJP, which is part of the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir with Peoples Democratic Party, said that a passport should be issued to him only after he apologises for the anti-India remarks that he has made in the last 25 years.

However, PDP said that the passport should be issued to him as it is a humanitarian issue.

The Home and External Affairs ministries had a fortnight back said that Geelani's passport application was incomplete and could not be processed.

The Centre had said it will examine Geelani's application on merit once he completes all formalities. "An incomplete passport application was received from him (Geelani). Fees were not paid and the biometric details and photographs not submitted," Spokesperson in MEA Vikas Swarup had said.

Geelani is a hardline leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which is an alliance of several outfits active in Jammu and Kashmir and was formed on March 9, 1993 as a political front to further the cause of Kashmiri separatism. Geelani and his supporters have enjoyed Pakistan's support and want Kashmir to secede from India.

Geelani has led and addressed several anti-India protests and rallies in Kashmir where Pakistani flags have been raised and hoisted.