By Agence India Press,
Srinagar: People’s Democratic Party has urged the central and state governments to stop discrimination against the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir in grant of passport.
Expressing concern at the tardy disposal of passport applications and outright denial to a large number of applicants, a PDP spokesman today said about 40, 000 passport applications were pending at different stages of scrutiny for the past several years. He said while this was causing hardships to everybody, traders, students, professionals and now hajj pilgrims were more adversely affected by this administrative apathy.
The spokesman said flimsy reasons were cited as cause for denial of passports which violated the fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen of the country. While people in other states could now get passport just for asking it has become extremely difficult for an ordinary person to see this vital document in a world where people have to travel across national borders frequently. In many cases, the
Spokesman pointed out, people were denied passports on the basis of reports of even distant relations having been involved in the past in political or militant activity. The state government and the central
Agencies must make the scrutiny more people friendly and hassle free, he asserted.
Referring to the new guidelines about hajj pilgrims, ,the spokesman said international passports were necessary for all intending pilgrims and this was their fundamental right, but unfortunately even in this pilgrimage of faith the applicants were made to run between pillar and post and as a result 80 per cent of them were still to receive the travel document.
The uncertainty caused by this delay and denial policy had disrupted the entire hajj Programme for the ensuing season which needs to be addressed immediately.
Calling upon the central government to increase the hajj quota for the state, the spokesman said the government of India must relax norms for the only Muslim state of the country. While quota through the hajj committee should be increased to previous levels the external affairs ministry should also increase the hajj quota through private tour operators, the spokesman said.