No passport for HC chairman Mirwaiz Omar

Srinagar, Sep 15 (UNI) The participation of Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting at New York on September 26 remained doubtful as the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) was yet to issue him a passport.

Mirwaiz Omar had applied for a fresh passport four months ago in the RPO office, Srinagar, Hurriyat chairman's press secretary Shahidul Islam said.

He said so far no reply had been received from the RPO whether the application was rejected or accepted.

The Mirwaiz was being issued passport by the RPO once in a year over the past few years to enable him visit abroad after his and other separatist leaders' passports were impounded in the 1990s.

Mr Islam said Mirwaiz Omar had received a number of invitations from different organisations, including the OIC, besides an invitation to the ''International meeting of Leaders project'' called by former US Defense Secretary Stephen Cohen, the Pugwash Conference in Italony '' Islam and Europe'' and the third International Conference on Kashmir, organised by the London-based Justice Foundation.

UNI