India deprives Kashmiris of travel right : Iranian News reports

[Omar1984]

India deprives Kashmiris of travel right

People in Indian-administered Kashmir say the authorities have imprisoned them by denying them the necessary travel documents. (File photo)


People in Indian-administered Kashmir say they are affectively banned from leaving the territory as they are not provided with necessary travel documents, Press TV reports.


India’s leading English-language daily Indian Express earlier reported that as many as 60,000 families denied travel documents have been blacklisted by the Indian intelligence authorities in Kashmir.

The Indian officials did not refute the report, but said they are working on the issuance of passports and soon the problem will be resolved.

Kashmir residents, however, suspect the government’s promises have embarked on a campaign for the right to travel for the people in the Muslim-majority region.

“They use passports for negotiations and bargaining…They give passports to people for this one year and on conditions of having a good conduct toward the government of India,” said Khurram Pervez, the Program Coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

Obtaining passport in Kashmir is said to be a lengthy process, and people have to undergo a number of police verifications. The process takes months and even years at times.

Human rights activist Parvez Imroze, who has been denied a passport in the past seven years, said this is a deliberate attempt by government.

The move is aimed at preventing people from attending international conferences and event where they can expose the conditions in Kashmir, he explained.

Imroze said the move also economically affects the residents, who are deprived of working outside Kashmir or trading with the outside world, thus cannot enjoy the effects of globalization.

The travel difficulties prevent Kashmiris from reaching out to their relatives abroad and students who want to study and work out of India are bound to stay in Kashmir.

Muslims are unable to perform Hajj pilgrimage as they are deprived of their travel documents.


PressTV - India deprives Kashmiris of travel right

 

[rubyjackass]

People in Indian-administered Kashmir say they are affectively banned from leaving the territory as they are not provided with necessary travel documents, Press TV reports.


India’s leading English-language daily Indian Express earlier reported that as many as 60,000 families denied travel documents have been blacklisted by the Indian intelligence authorities in Kashmir.

The Indian officials did not refute the report, but said they are working on the issuance of passports and soon the problem will be resolved.

Kashmir residents, however, suspect the government’s promises have embarked on a campaign for the right to travel for the people in the Muslim-majority region.

“They use passports for negotiations and bargaining…They give passports to people for this one year and on conditions of having a good conduct toward the government of India,” said Khurram Pervez, the Program Coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

Obtaining passport in Kashmir is said to be a lengthy process, and people have to undergo a number of police verifications. The process takes months and even years at times.

Human rights activist Parvez Imroze, who has been denied a passport in the past seven years, said this is a deliberate attempt by government.

The move is aimed at preventing people from attending international conferences and event where they can expose the conditions in Kashmir, he explained.

Imroze said the move also economically affects the residents, who are deprived of working outside Kashmir or trading with the outside world, thus cannot enjoy the effects of globalization.

The travel difficulties prevent Kashmiris from reaching out to their relatives abroad and students who want to study and work out of India are bound to stay in Kashmir.

Without prejudice to the genuine issue at hand here, India does not let any of its citizens travel easily. People wait for months and years for a passport, sometimes even if they have all the documents. All Indian citizens are required to sign a declaration saying they will maintain good conduct abroad and will not act in a way that will conflict with the interests of India(In USA I believe citizenship without a criminal record automatically entitles a person to passport). This declaration is on every passport application. And then the police verification, where I have seen not a single person who got a passport without bribing the verifying constable. Yet people's passports go into cold storage and one RTI later they find out that police verification gave a negative.

That said, not giving passport is a routine tactic that governments use against dissidents. India's human rights record is not particularly spectacular to stay aloof from this time tested tactic.