Govt impounds KCCI chief’s passport

Trade talk gets dull
Rising Kashmir Oct 1

Govt impounds KCCI chief’s passport

Mehboob Jeelani
Srinagar, Sep 30: Regional Passport Office on Tuesday impounded the passport of president Kashmir Chambers of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), Mubeen Shah, who was to lead a trade delegation to Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PaK).
Police sources said that the intelligence wing of the state police had requested the passport office to impound the travel document of the KCCI president following an "adverse report" about his alleged separatist activities.
Shah received a letter on Tuesday from the office of Passport Officer informing him about the impounding of his passport. It has been mentioned in the letter that Shah had come into the ‘adverse notice’ of Police and Central Investigative Department (CID).
KCCI president, Mubeen Shah told Rising Kashmir, “I received the letter in the morning and I don’t know why it has been done. I have decided to take a legal action against the authorities for impounding my passport”.
He, however, said that the reasons of impounding his passport were not mentioned clearly in the letter. “The letter reads that on ‘adverse grounds’ my passport was impounded. No specific reason has been mentioned,” added Shah.
The KCCI president was expected to lead a trade delegation to PaK as a reciprocal visit for discussing possibilities of strengthening trade ties between the two parts of Kashmir. The cross-LoC trade will commence from October 21.
Shah is the member of Jammu Kashmir Coordination Committee (JKCC), which is spearheading the peaceful agitation across the valley. It was formed after the economic blockade of Kashmir by the right-wing Hindu activists of BJP, VHP, Bajrangdal and Shiv-Sena.
After the lifting of economic blockade by the Hindu extremist elements, the Kashmir-based traders have boycotted the Jammu trade. The boycott campaign against the Jammu based products is being headed by Mubeen Shah and President of Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries Kashmir (FCIK), Shakeel Qalander.
The president of Jammu chambers of commerce and industries, Ram Sahai recently visited Kashmir and pleaded Shah and Qalandar to lift the boycott.
After refusal, Sahai accused Shah of being ‘puppet’ in the hands of separatist leaders.