SRINAGAR: Iltija Mufti, the daughter of the PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, has been granted a two-year UAE-specific passport. The move comes after her previous passport expired on January 2, 2022, and her application for a new one was denied due to an adverse report by J-K Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). After receiving the passport, Iltija questioned whether she was being labelled as a terrorist or anti-national. She is determined to fight for her rights and says that she is an Indian law-abiding citizen and not a criminal. The incident has raised concerns about the misuse of power and the denial of fundamental rights to citizens.
In February, she moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which directed the Regional Passport Office (RPO) to look into the merits of the case. The RPO issued the passport to Iltija, who wants to pursue higher studies, that is valid from April 5, 2023, to April 4, 2025, according to a letter by the RPO to the additional solicitor general. Iltija accused the Regional Passport Officer, Kashmir, Davinder Kumar, and the CID of misleading the judiciary during a press conference at the PDP headquarters.
“The passport issued to me is a two-year passport and it is mentioned clearly that it is valid only for the UAE,” Iltija stated and characterized the passport she received as a “conditional passport.” She affirmed that she is an “Indian citizen and a law-abiding citizen” who has not violated any laws. “However, even to issue the two-year passport, the Official Secrets Act has been invoked against me. This Act is usually invoked for espionage,” Iltija claimed.
“Am I a fugitive? Am I Nirav Modi, am I a terrorist, anti-national that I am being punished? If I talk about the central government, is it like talking against the country? What is my fault?” she questioned. “I am not a fugitive or a conman like Kiran Patel who was treated as a VVIP,” Iltija said. Patel was detained in Kashmir last month for allegedly impersonating an official of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The daughter of the PDP leader claimed that she is being treated like a hardened criminal and “like I have taken thousands of crore of rupees as loans from banks and have become a defaulter.” She insisted that she would persist in her legal battle despite “pressure to withdraw her petition.”
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