Hours after PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija claimed that there is tremendous pressure on her to withdraw the petition in the High Court on her passport, J&K police said the claim was not true.
Police said a quick internal audit was carried out after the allegations and it was found the claim of such pressure is completely false,
“On learning that accusations have been made that CID (Criminal Investigation Department (CID)) of J&K Police has pressurised a litigant to refrain from litigating in the High Court in connection with her passport-related grievances, a quick internal audit was carried out. J&K Police can affirm that the claim of such pressure is completely false,” a police statement said on Friday evening.
“Nevertheless, officers are being detailed to approach the aggrieved person and ascertain details – who pressurised, when, where and under what circumstances so that the quick internal inquiry if found inadequate can be expanded to take suitable disciplinary action against the delinquent,” the statement added.
Earlier in the day Iltija said she was issued a “country-specific passport” for two years to allow her to study in the United Arab Emirates. Iltija accused the Regional Passport Officer and J&K CID of “misleading” the court on the issuance of “conditional” passport to her.
“Am I a terrorist or an anti-national?”, she asked on the issuance of “conditional” passport.
She had claimed she will not withdraw her petition in the High Court because this is not her fight only but of others who have also been deprived of such rights.
“There is tremendous pressure on us to withdraw this petition, but I will continue to fight it in the court,” she said.
While the Police denied any wrongdoing, it didn’t name Iltija in the statement.
Police said law enforcing agencies do not ordinarily discuss their work procedure in public but it has become necessary to do so following “false allegations” against it attributed to figures with public profile.
The police said unfortunately, the public person has apparently projected her personal grievance as also to be the grievance of the public in general in Kashmir.
“This is very problematic. J&K Police and its affiliates are public institutions and designed to serve public interest. Denigrating the community’s own institutions for grievances that are personal on the basis of false accusations is self-harm,” the statement said
The police gave statistics to show that there is no truth in the claim that passports are kept on hold.
Police said in 2020, out of 77686 passport verifications received, 77644 (99.95%) were cleared.
In 2021, out of 75714 passport verifications received, 75176 (99.68%) were cleared.
Last year, out of 134315 passport verifications received, 128939 (99.61%) were cleared, police said.
Police said security verifications preceding the issue of passports are a high-value public service.
The statement said J&K Police detected as many as 54 young boys who were wrongly given passport service during 2017-18.
“Unfortunately, all of them went to Pakistan, were taken to terrorist camps, trained in arms, ammunition and explosives, many of them pushed back into J&K through LoC and 26 of them died while either crossing or during encounters in the hinterland. Lives of 12 of these young boys could be saved by the CID after their return from Pakistan, by bringing them under preventive custody so that terrorist-separatist syndicates do not succeed in pressuring them to join terror ranks. Eventually all of the 12 have been handed over to their families. Today they are alive and happily live amidst their mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers and friends. Unfortunately, 16 of them are still across and trapped in camps under the control of hostile agencies,” the statement said.
Police said it is heartbreaking to know that in some cases even parents had no idea that passport services have been extended to these boys of tender age.
“Intelligence and investigation have confirmed that in each and every case the visa to Pakistan was arranged at the behest of one or the other leader of a constituent party of Hurriyat. CID is committed to helping the parents of vulnerable young persons not to fall prey to death traps. J&K Police is committed to speedy and hassle-free clearances for more than 99% who are ‘clean and green’ and professional filtering of those who should be prevented from availing the service – some in their own interest and others in the interest of the public,” police said
