The passport of Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been suspended to preempt him from flying to New York for an event where he was likely to have spoken against India, official sources said on Tuesday.
The government action came in the wake of reports that the hardline Hurriyat faction leader was planning to travel to New York to attend the annual meeting of Foreign Ministers of member states of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Kashmir Contact Group beginning September 27.
The 85-year-old pro-Pakistan leader had been issued a short-term passport for nine months in July this year to facilitate his visit to Jeddah to meet his ailing daughter Fareeda.
Earlier, his application for issuing a passport had been rejected in May after he refused to give his biometric details. As the authorities refused to issue him the travel document unless he completed the necessary formality, Geelani later relented and visited the Regional Passport Office to submit his biometric details.
Geelani's spokesman had a few days ago acknowledged his travel plans to the US but said the Hurriyat chairman had been invited by the OIC many times in the past but could not go due to non-availability of travel document.
For the first time in 25 years, Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani had accepted the invitation to participate in the foreign ministers meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New York starting September 27.
"Hurriyat chairman has many times in the past 25 years got invitation from this world body but due to the non-availability of the travel documents, he could not participate in those meetings. Geelani Sahab has started to complete the necessary formality in this regard", said spokesman of Geelani led hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference.
Geelani is among the three separatist leaders including moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who have been invited to attend the OIC foreign ministers meet in New York.