Sanjay Nirupam urges Centre not to issue passport to Syed Ali Shah Geelani

Amidst the controversy surrounding the issuance of passport to hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, AICC spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam on Friday urged the Centre to desist from such a move.

"If activities of Geelani and other Hurriyat leaders' are anti-India, then the central government should take a decision to stop issuing passport to Geelani," he told reporters in Guwahati.

The issuance of passport to Geelani has kicked off a controversy in Kashmir with PDP and BJP, the coalition partners in the state, having diametrically opposite views on it.

While PDP said Geelani should be given passport on "humanitarian" grounds to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia, BJP insists that he should not be given the travel document till he "apologises" for his anti-national activities.

Meanwhile, the Centre today said it will consider the passport application of Geelani only after he completes the formalities and indicated that it was not averse to approving it.