How many Kashmiris were denied passports? MEA won’t say

By DANISH ZARGAR

Published: Fri, 11 October 2013 10:49 PM

SRINAGAR: India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has refused to disclose information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding the number of Kashmiris who have been denied passports.
Citing section 8 (1)(J) of the RTI Act-2005, MEA said that the disclosure “will invade the privacy of individuals,” and therefore, cannot be made public.
However, the RTI applicant advocate Mudasir Naqashbandi says the section under which the authority has denied information is being used “on flimsy grounds.”
“Thousands of Kashmiris have suffered in the absence of passports. It’s a public issue, and MEA cannot shield itself under the cover of ‘invasion of privacy’,” said Naqashbandi who had filed the RTI.
In 2007, the Indian Express reported that the intelligence sleuths had prepared a blacklist which the establishment calls a “Security Index”. The list has as many as 60,000 families from the Valley alone, it said.
The High Court in a landmark judgement in October 2009 held that the acquitted persons have a right to hold passport.  Humayoun Yusuf Jan, a Srinagar businessman was arrested by a security agency in connection with FIR No.  130/97 under section 3/25 Indian Arms Act.  The court later acquitted him. But Jan was denied a passport. He moved the court. As per the court directions, the passport had to be issued to the petitioner in four weeks time. Jan was later given a passport.
In his RTI, Naqashbandi had wanted to know the number of Kashmiris who have been denied passports and the quantum amount taken by MEA as fee for processing their passport application only to be rejected later.
Naqashbandi said that since the reply is ‘far from satisfactory’, he will file first appeal against the CPIO under Section 19 (1) of the RTI Act, 2005 in the MEA.
“Only some cases which come under media spotlight and generate widespread attention are cleared. There are thousands of Kashmiris like those wanting to perform Hajj but cannot as they have been denied passports; their sons or nephews were militants, but are long dead,” Naqashbandi said.
Also, he said, the issue “is a scam” as the MEA has taken Rs 1000 to 1500 as a non-refundable fee from every applicant and later denied passports to them. “This amount runs into hundreds of crores.”