NRI body seeks Centre's intervention in passport issues

An organisation of Indian nationals residing in north American countries today appealed to External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid demanding issuance and renewal of their Indian passports.
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) has claimed that nearly five lakh Indian nationals settled abroad are not getting Indian passport due to "lack of communication" between Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs.
"The Indian missions abroad are not issuing them new passports, and are not renewing the documents although they continue to hold Indian citizenship on apprehensions that these persons may been associated with militancy in India," NAPA claimed in a letter to Khurshid.

"Without judicial and administrative probe, these migrants are considered as terrorists in the ill-conceived opinion of overseas Indian missions," it claimed.
In a letter addressed to the minister, Satnam Singh Chahal, Executive Director of NAPA, sought constitution of a high power commission to look into the matter.
The organisation has stated that many of the affected people have become legal residents of North American countries after being granted political asylum.
They belong from states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi, the letter reads.
Some of them have been granted citizenship by these countries while majority of them are still Indian nationals, it added.