In Srinagar, police stamp

At a time when Islamabad and New Delhi are talking about opening a road from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and relaxing visa regimes, the Jammu a...

At a time when Islamabad and New Delhi are talking about opening a road from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and relaxing visa regimes, the Jammu and Kashmir police have a slightly different idea.

For the first time ever, they have directed the Regional Passport Office here to issue passports to Kashmiris with a stamp that says: 8216;8216;Except Pakistan.8217;8217;

Additional Director General of J-K Police CID A K Bhan confirmed to The Sunday Express that a directive was issued in August for 8216;8216;youngsters of a specific age group read Class XII graduates.8217;8217; Reason: the police had 8216;8216;information8217;8217; that at least 62 of them were being 8216;8216;sponsored by separatists8217;8217; to study professional courses in Pakistan colleges.

8216;8216;We have nothing against them students going for studies outside the country. Let them go and study in the United States or in any other country, but not in Pakistan. We don8217;t want them to go to Pakistan because their stay there will be misused. They will be indoctrinated there, which is a major security concern,8217;8217; Bhan told The Sunday Express.

Bhan claims that the directive is not a 8216;8216;blanket ban8217;8217; and that the police are using the 8216;8216;Except Pakistan8217;8217; stamp on a 8216;8216;case by case8217;8217; basis. 8216;8216;It8217;s for a select group and we are doing it only to stop future subversion. People-to-people contact cannot be allowed to be misused for subversion.8217;8217;

nbsp;	This is baseless, says MoS for Home; unproductive: CPM

		nbsp;	8226; Abdul Rehman Veeri, Minister of State for Home: 8216;8216;We have not issued any such instructions. In fact, our govt is trying hard to let people freely travel to Pakistan. There might be one odd case where the CID has an adverse report but not more than that. It8217;s not happening, I am sure of that.8217;8217; 8226; M Y Tarigami: CPM J038;K General Secretary It8217;s unwarranted and unproductive. Instead of stopping Kashmiri youth, they need to be persuaded to visit Pak and see the ground realities for themselves. 8226; Omar Abdullah, NC chief What8217;s the point of talking about Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus when Kashmiri boys and girls can8217;t get on that bus?	nbsp;

What is startling is that Passport officials say they can do little. Said John Shilshi, Passport Officer, Srinagar: 8216;8216;We were never told by the Ministry of External Affairs to put this stamp. We do it only because the J038;K police have asked us to do so, in writing.8217;8217;

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8216;8216;We are like rubber stamps. As per rules, we cannot issue a passport without security clearance. We have to adhere to the directions of the CID Department of the J038;K Police, which is the nodal authority,8217;8217; he said.

This unusual directive is also being applied with retrospective effect. In fact, 16 students, most of them around 18 years old, whose passports were issued before this directive, were recently told their documents have been impounded. 8216;8216;This, too, was done under the direction of the police,8217;8217; said Shilshi.

Most of the students whose passports have been so stamped don8217;t want their names to be revealed, afraid of the consequences.

8216;8216;But we are hopeful that the government will reconsider it,8217;8217; said one of them. 8216;8216;We have nothing to do with any separatist leader. I wanted to study medicine and only after I failed to get admission here did my parents start looking outside Kashmir,8217;8217; he said.

8216;8216;We couldn8217;t afford the capitation fee in Bangalore and other places. When things eased between India and Pakistan, we took this window of opportunity and applied. I was selected. I don8217;t know how to prove that I only want to pursue my studies,8217;8217; he said.

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Then there are those like 17-year-old Asma Mushtaq, from Bemina in Srinagar, whose passport was impounded despite the 8216;Except Pakistan8217; stamp.

8216;8216;My in-laws have close relatives in Pakistan. We had applied for admission to various medical colleges with their help. My daughter has not been sponsored by anybody here. I don8217;t know why they impounded her travel documents,8217;8217; said Mohammad Mushtaq Bhat, Asma8217;s father.

Additional DG Bhan said the police have detected cases where militants had applied for passports using their pictures but not their real names. 8216;8216;They had identified themselves with names of locals without any subversive links to mislead us,8217;8217; he said.

Muzamil Jaleel

Muzamil Jaleel is a Deputy Editor at The Indian Express and is widely recognized as one of India’s most authoritative voices on Jammu & Kashmir, national security, and internal affairs. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has provided definitive on-the-ground reportage from the heart of the Kashmir conflict, bearing witness to historic political transitions and constitutional shifts. Expertise and Investigative Depth Muzamil’s work is characterized by a rare combination of ground-level immersion and high-level constitutional analysis. His expertise includes: Conflict & Geopolitics: Decades of reporting on the evolution of the Kashmir conflict, the Indo-Pak peace process, and the socio-political dynamics of the Himalayan region. Constitutional Law: Deep-dive analysis of Article 370 and Article 35A, providing clarity on the legal and demographic implications of their abrogation in 2019. Human Rights & Accountability: A relentless investigator of state and non-state actors, uncovering systemic abuses including fake encounters and the custodial death of political workers. International War Reporting: Beyond South Asia, he provided on-the-spot coverage of the final, decisive phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. Landmark Exposés & Impact Muzamil’s reporting has repeatedly forced institutional accountability and shaped national discourse: The Kashmir Sex Scandal (2006): His investigative series exposed a high-profile exploitation nexus involving top politicians, bureaucrats, and police officers, leading to the sacking and arrest of several senior officials. Fake Encounters: His reports blew the lid off cases where innocent civilians were passed off as "foreign terrorists" by security forces for gallantry awards. SIMI Investigations: He conducted a massive deep-dive into the arrests of SIMI members, using public records to show how innocuous religious gatherings were often labeled as incriminating activities by investigative agencies. The Amarnath Land Row: Provided critical context to the 2008 agitation that polarized the region and altered its political trajectory. Over the years, Muzamil has also covered 2002 Gujarat riots, Bhuj earthquake, assembly elections in Bihar for Indian Express. He has also reported the peace process in Northern Ireland, war in Sri Lanka and national elections in Pakistan for the paper. Awards and Fellowships His "Journalism of Courage" has been honored with the industry's most prestigious accolades: Four Ramnath Goenka Awards: Recognized for J&K Reportage (2007), On-the-Spot Reporting (2009), and Reporting on Politics and Government (2012, 2017). Kurt Schork Award: From Columbia University for international journalism. Sanskriti Award: For excellence in Indian journalism and literature. IFJ Tolerance Prize: For his empathetic and nuanced reporting in South Asia. International Fellowships: Served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and worked with The Guardian, The Observer, and The Times in London. He has also received Chevening fellowship and a fellowship at the Institute of Social Studies, Hague, Netherlands. Professional Presence Current Location: New Delhi (formerly Bureau Chief, Srinagar). Education: Master’s in Journalism from Kashmir University. Social Media: Follow him for field insights and rigorous analysis on X (Twitter) @MuzamilJALEEL. ... Read More