Senior National Conference (NC) leader and former legislator Altaf Ahmad Wani alias Kaloo was stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, on Thursday afternoon and “not allowed” to travel to Dubai.
“I was travelling along with my family to attend my niece's engagement in Dubai. I had an evening flight to catch. I was stopped at the immigration for over four hours and finally told I am barred from travelling outside the country”, he told The Hindu.
Mr. Wani said the immigration officials informed him that he can’t leave the country till March 2021.
‘Make list public’
“It seems the Ministry of Home Affairs [MHA] has barred mainstream political parties from travelling abroad. In my case, a ban on my travel has been extended for the second time since I was released earlier this year. This tantamount to harassment. They should make public the list of leaders barred from travelling to save them time and money”, he stated.
Mr. Wani was arrested in the crackdown launched on J&K’s mainstream leaders on August 5, 2019. He was later released from a detention centre in Srinagar in January last.
Sources said NC vice president Omar Abdullah had taken note of the issue and spoke to a few national leaders to end the travel ban on mainstream leaders.
Sources said around 38 leaders from J&K have been put on a ‘no-fly-list’ by the MHA.
