Iqball Ahmed
The media in Kashmir remain occupied in covering the former Chief Minister’s daughter’s press conference. While scrolling down the pages on Facebook everybody was sharing the same content. It seems that Junior Mufti had not suffered as much as the media persons had.
On every social media platform, only this news was making rounds that Iltija Mufti was pressured to draw a passport case from the Judiciary. Every single news outlet has sworn in to make Junior Mufti star overnight and that is what Iltija in real sense needs. Though she has successfully grabbed the media attention but has not won the political game of winning over the hearts of the general public.
After the press conference went viral on social media, I too watched it from different news portals. Mufti was trying to make her issue a talking point. The viewers were commenting against her on every portal. Viewers were neither blaming CID nor RPO officers. They were blaming Iltija Mufti and her mother for this.
Iltija Mufti has made false accusations of hardship
Freedom of speech is a fundamental Right of everyone in the Constitution of India. Everybody’s speech is always appreciated and welcomed unless it is not provoking the general public to go against the state.
Though Mufti’s yesterday’s presser was not very provocative. But her false allegations of hardships of commoners in getting the travel documents could portray the wrong image both at local, national and international levels. Issuing the travel document needs a procedure that essentially is followed before issuing. Everybody is getting a passport freely after his verification gets cleared by law enforcement agencies. But only that person’s passport gets delayed who has any kind of past affiliations with the terrorist organisation.
Iltija Mufti is trying to create a sense of distrust in common people
Iltija Mufti is trying to create a sense of distrust in common people by saying that “My passport was issued for two years only, you can imagine how hard it would be for common people”. The majority of the common people are innocent. They faced hardship during the time of the previous regimes only. This is because those regimes were saturated with favouritism and nepotism.
During state government regime, youths in terror networks were give passports due to faulty policies
Earlier when it was a locally elected government in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, passports were even issued to those people who went to Pakistan to get armed training there infiltrated back with heavy weapons and became killing machines in Kashmir.
As per the reports which were made to the public by the CID wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police said that “CID is committed to helping the parents of vulnerable young persons in not falling prey to the death traps”. Providing the data police in a press release said that, Security verifications preceding issue of passports is a high value public service.
Boys were eventually saved through intervention of CID J&K
It is important to note that J&K Police has 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 control of hostile agencies. 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 has 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 help the parents of vulnerable young persons in not falling prey to the death traps.
J&K Police is committed to speedy and hassle free clearances for more than 99% who are ‘clean and green’ and a 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.
Three consecutive years – passports were issued without hassle
JK Police CID wing has provided the numbers of the three consecutive years of clearances of verification for issuing passports. The data shows that about 99 per cent of verification were cleared. The record issued were as under:
2020: out of 77686 passport verifications received, 77644 (99.95%) cleared.
2021: out of 75714 passport verifications received, 75176 (99.68%) cleared.
2022: out of 134315 passport verifications received, 128939 (99.61%) cleared.
Since the verification was cleared iltija Mufti has made her personal grievance into a public grievance, which is a completely senseless act. By doing so she is trying to spin the general public into the matter.
Iltija 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.
