KL Report
Srinagar
Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani has been invited to attend Pugwash Conference being held from July 18-20 in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The spokesman of the amalgam Ayaz Akbar said the octogenarian leader received on July 11 the invitation for the conference in which several dignitaries from both sides are expected to participate.
He said that although Syed Ali Geelani has received several offers to attend international conferences in past also, he said not been able to attend any of them because of the non-availability of travel documents.
“Expect for allowing him to perform Hajj pilgrimage, Geelani sahib has not been allowed to travel abroad since 1980,” he said, according to KNS.
The spokesman said that even though authorities were approached and reminded repeatedly, they have remained silent over the matter and there has been no response from Omar Abdullah-led administration.
“Regional Passport Office has so far failed to explain the reasons that under what provisions and for what hitch the travel documents are being withheld.”
While castigating the government policy, the spokesman said that on one hand the authorities claim India to be the world’s leading Republic and on the other hand, people in Jammu and Kashmir are being deprived of basic civil rights. “Martial law like restrictions and unjustified curbs were being imposed on the political activities of Syed Ali Geelani,” he said.
