National

Travel curbs on J&K seperatist leaders

Yaseen Malik

New Delhi Jan. 8 . Stung by their anti-India activities and secessionist statements abroad, the Centre has decided to get tough with Kashmiri separatist leaders with regard to their foreign travel and it may even impound their passports.

Highly-placed sources said here today that the Government had decided to reverse its policy of being liberal in enabling the separatist elements to travel abroad and participate in conferences and other meetings. Several of them undertake foreign trips ostensibly on medical grounds and use the opportunity to carry out vicious anti-India campaigns, the sources said.

A dossier submitted to the Home Ministry names Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Yaseen Malik and Sheikh Abdul Aziz among the separatist leaders against whom action had been proposed by way of either impounding their passport or refusal of permission to travel abroad.

Citing the case of the Mirwaiz, former Hurriyat chairman, the document accuses him of holding meetings with expatriate pro-Pakistani Kashmiri groups, ISI operatives and other anti-India elements and espousing the right of ``self-determination'' of Kashmiris.

It said he had tried to influence the General Secretary of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in New York to take ``economic sanctions'' against India for its ``illegal occupation'' of Kashmir.

In September last, during a visit to the U.S., the Mirwaiz had meetings in the State Department and the National Security Council besides meeting the Pakistan Ambassador to the U.S., Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, according to the dossier.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq

In April 2001, he had reportedly met the ISI Director-General at Sharjah where he had gone to participate in a meeting of Kashmiri leaders.

When contacted, the Mirwaiz said the allegations against him were ``baseless'' and that he had never asked the OIC to impose trade sanctions against India.

The dossier also cites the case of Mr. Malik, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader and senior Hurriyat functionary, who had been issued travel documents on medical grounds allowing him to travel only to the U.K. and the U.S.

However, Mr. Malik is said to have addressed a number of conventions and seminars in the U.S. and even compared Kashmir to Afghanistan at one such meeting.

The dossier said that Mr. Aziz, People's League leader, when permitted to go to Pakistan with his family in 2001, was seen kissing the tarmac of the Lahore airport after alighting from the aircraft.

In press statements, he had claimed that the ``movement'' in Kashmir was aimed at its accession to Pakistan.

In the light of this, the Centre had decided to toughen its stand against such leaders and showcause notices were being served on them, the sources said. — PTI

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu