People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abhijit Jasrotia on Tuesday said it was a "good thing" that a passport had been issued to Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
"We should not make this issue controversial. After all he is an elderly person who wants to visit his ailing daughter. If he wants passport and if he has filled up all the nomenclature of the form then why should we not give him passport," Jasrotia told ANI.
"If he has got a passport then it is a good thing that he has got it," he added.
A short duration validity passport was issued today to Geelani, who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia to visit his ailing daughter.
The Hurriyat hardliner, however, had stoked controversy by saying that he was "not an Indian citizen by birth".
The passport row had fanned a political storm with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asking him to declare his nationality as Indian and apologise for his "anti-national" activities.