Visas for the wife and daughter of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik have been cleared by the government to facilitate their visit to Srinagar from Pakistan.
The Home Ministry has given its approval for visas to Malik's wife Mushal, daughter Razia, and mother-in-law Rehana, official sources said.
The family members of the secessionist leader, who was recently stopped from flying to Nepal to see his wife and daughter, will land in India at New Delhi, they said.
As per norms, a Pakistani visitor has to send his or her application to the Ministry of External Affairs which is then forwarded to the Home Ministry and the state government of the state where the visitor is headed.
After it has got satisfactory reports from both, the Home Ministry gives its approval and forwards the application to MEA for granting of visas. Malik's family lives in Islamabad, Pakistan.
His passport has not been renewed by authorities here after he was found to have shared the dais on February 9 of this year with 26/11 prime accused and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad at a meeting to mourn the hangings of Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab and Pakistani terrorist Afzal Guru.
The Home Ministry is also yet to take any decision on the renewal of the passports of separatists leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Abdul Gani Bhat. The government may not give permission for renewal of their passports, the sources, meanwhile, said.
Hurriyat Conference leaders, who have been holding talks with Pakistani authorities on the Kashmir issue while avoiding discussions with the leadership in India, claim to work for the self-determination of the people of Kashmir and the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
