Mufti moves court over conditional passport

Srinagar: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti has challenged the conditions imposed by the Ministry of External Affairs while issuing a passport to her last month on the orders of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. The High Court has issued a notice to the authorities on her plea challenging the ‘conditional passport’ that restricts the scope of her travel abroad. Iltija (35) was issued a “country-specific passport” for two years to allow her to study in the United Arab Emirates, in April this year. The conditional passport was issued after she moved the High Court in February after her application for a passport was not cleared following an adverse report by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s CID.She had applied for a fresh passport on June 8, 2022 as the same was set to expire on January 2 this year. However, she moved the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh (JKL) High court once again to challenge the conditions. Challenging the “arbitrary restriction”, Iltija, in her plea, alleged that the decision “suffers from the vice of unreasonableness”.“The decision to restrict the period of duration of the passport for two years only with an endorsement/order that the passport is valid for the UA E only is an arbitrary restriction on the right of the petitioner to travel.”the plea said. It is not comprehensible that on one hand, the petitioner has been issued a passport, which clearly indicates that there are no grounds in law available to refuse the issuance of passport, but despite it being so, the passport is valid only for the United Arab Emirates, it said.pti