Srinagar: Nasir Khuehami, a student activist from Kashmir, has alleged that the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir are not issuing him a passport even ten months after he followed all the application procedures. He submitted his application on April 19, 2022.
“For 10 months, I have been made to move from pillar to post by the authorities. It’s been approximately 306 days since I applied for a passport and I am yet to procure one,” Khuehami told The Wire.
The 25 year old is from Bandipora district in north Kashmir. He is the national convenor of the Students’ Association of Jammu and Kashmir, an organisation which has remained at the forefront of raising the issues of Kashmiri students and helping them whenever they faced difficulties, whether in different parts of India or abroad.
Khuehami recently got shortlisted for an interview for the Chevening Fellowship. The is the UK government’s international scholarship programme. “My interview is scheduled for March 1,” Khuehami said. “I am hopeful to attend other foreign exchange programmes and leadership programmes this year, including the IVLP, Australia Dialogue and Sharaka Conference in Poland and the UAE. The continuous denial of a passport may restrict me from availing of these opportunities.”
Throughout his student activism, Khuehami says, he has worked within the framework of the Constitution to redress the grievances of students by working in liaison with the Central and various state governments.
A journalism student, Khuehami started his activism in 2017, while at the HNB Garhwal Central University. “I never issued any kind of statement which may be problematic for the administration. Instead I am engaging with the government to redress issues,” he said.
Over the last few years, he said, he has witnessed Kashmiri students being harassed for their identity several times. Because of that, he felt the need for a students’ association that would work for the welfare, safety and security of Kashmiri students. “Keeping that in mind, in 2017 I along with a group of trained, dedicated, like-minded people founded the J&K Students’ Association. Over the years, I relentlessly raised student issues and put in best efforts for their redressal. The Association proved to be a guardian angel for Kashmiri students in 2019, when racist and sectarian violence erupted against Kashmiri students in Indian cities as ‘revenge’ following the militant attack in Pulwama,” he told The Wire.