Kupwara residents line up for verification

Saves them from intimidation during visit outside state

A large number of Kupwara residents intending to visit Punjab and other states, mostly in connection with shawl business, are facing inconvenience due to verification of their antecedents by the local police.

People waiting in long queues for getting their verification reports from police stations concerned has become the norm for past over a week.

Local residents said there was no formal directive from the authorities to get verification, but they were obtaining it to avoid intimidation by the police and others outside the state.

“It took me three days to get the verification report from passport verification section at the Kupwara SP’s office,” said Bashir Ahmad of Drugmulla village.

“First I had to seek a report from the sarpanch and ward member and then from the police station concerned. Finally I obtained character verification report from the passport verification section,” he said.

The process of character verification of an applicant requires written reports from ward member concerned, sarpanch and police station. The applicants then line up at passport verification section to get character verification reports.

A passport official at the Kupwara SP’s office said they issued over 8,000 verification reports over the past one week. Some people said although it was a time-consuming process, it was a good move and would save them from intimidation.

“It is a good thing to have character verification done by the police. It will leave almost no room for police or any other person to intimidate a Kashmiri outside the state,” said Mushtaq Ahmad of Trehgam.