Ailing HC chairman Geelani applies for US visa

Sriangar, Mar 13 (UNI) Ailing Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC), has formally applied visa for United States.

''Yes, Mr Geelani, his wife and son have applied in the US embassy in New Delhi for a visa,'' a HC spokesman Aiyaz Akbar told UNI.

He said that son of Mr Geelani met Kailash Jha in the US embassy and submitted all the three applications yesterday for grant of visa so that the leader who is suffering from cancer could be taken to US for specialised treatment.

Mr Geelani, his wife and son were given passport by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), here, on the directions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following appeals by Hurriyat Conference and a number of mainstream and separatist leaders.

Mr Akbar said that Mr Jha has promised Mr Geelani's son that the visa would be issued soon to all the three.

He said the decision to take Mr Geelani to US was taken after consulting almost everybody in Jammu and Kashmir and abroad.

Mr Akbar said a number of offers were also received from different countries and individuals, but consensus was on US.

Mr Geelani's passport was impounded by the authorities in 1981 and since then his applications for issuing fresh passport or travel documents were denied. However, he was allowed to perform Haj pilgrimage last year along with his wife.

Mr Akbar said a three-member HC delegation which was scheduled to leave for Delhi to meet Mr Geelani before his departure to US, was still stranded in Srinagar after all the flights were cancelled yesterday. Today too we could not fly as flights have again been cancelled, he said.

He said Mr Geelani wanted to meet the HC leaders before under going treatment abroad.

UNI