Kashmiri teenager Sufaira Jan
Srinagar:
After initially being rejected, Kashmiri teenager Sufaira Jan has now been given a passport. The 15-year-old has been offered a scholarship by the US, but was denied a passport - just because her uncle was a militant even before she was born.
The Central Investigation Department or CID cleared her case and she was handed over her passport last evening.
Sufaira Jan, who stays in an orphanage in Budgam, was planning to leave for the US in the first week of August, after winning a one-year scholarship under the India-US Youth Exchange Study programme.
She cleared four exams and an interview in the US embassy in Delhi in March to get an invitation from America, becoming an inspiration for the entire orphanage.
But reality hit hard when she applied for a passport in April, this year. The Jammu and Kashmir state government did not give her a clearance, based on the state CID's records on her uncle, a former militant who surrendered in 1995.
"The government doesn't understand that if my uncle was a militant in the past, and is now surrendered and lives a normal life, what is my fault? I am not a militant," Sufaira had told NDTV.
As NDTV highlighted Sufaira's story, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had tweeted: "Needless to say she will NOT be denied a passport because of her uncle's past. All such pending cases of previous denials are being cleared."
The Central Investigation Department or CID cleared her case and she was handed over her passport last evening.
Sufaira Jan, who stays in an orphanage in Budgam, was planning to leave for the US in the first week of August, after winning a one-year scholarship under the India-US Youth Exchange Study programme.
She cleared four exams and an interview in the US embassy in Delhi in March to get an invitation from America, becoming an inspiration for the entire orphanage.
But reality hit hard when she applied for a passport in April, this year. The Jammu and Kashmir state government did not give her a clearance, based on the state CID's records on her uncle, a former militant who surrendered in 1995.
"The government doesn't understand that if my uncle was a militant in the past, and is now surrendered and lives a normal life, what is my fault? I am not a militant," Sufaira had told NDTV.
As NDTV highlighted Sufaira's story, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had tweeted: "Needless to say she will NOT be denied a passport because of her uncle's past. All such pending cases of previous denials are being cleared."
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