Aakash Hassan an independent Kashmiri journalist has alleged that he was stopped from travelling abroad.
Aakash Hassan, who writes on human rights, digital technologies and South Asian politics for several Indian and foreign publications, was on Tuesday prevented by the immigration authorities at Delhi airport from leaving for Sri Lanka for work.
After reaching the airport at about 3:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, Hassan collected his boarding pass. While heading toward immigration, his passport was checked and he was stopped from going ahead, Hassan told reporters.
“I was initially told that there was some problem with my passport. I was made to sit there for about five hours. When the airline staff came asking for me, they were asked to offload my luggage from the plane,” he said, adding that he was meanwhile questioned about his background, family, and profession.
About five hours later, Hassan finally tweeted about being stopped from travelling and he also uploaded a picture of his boarding pass with a stamp of “cancelled without prejudice”.
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Soon after his tweet, Hassan said that the officers allowed him to leave. On asking for the reason, Hassan said that the officers replied that their system flashed his name and therefore, he was being stopped.
“They told me that they contacted the higher-ups and they [higher-ups] said that I was supposed to be not allowed to travel,” said Hassan.
This is the second incident when a Kashmiri journalist was stopped to fly abroad. Earlier, Sanna Irshad Mattoo a Pulitzer prize winner was also stopped travelling abroad.
And as in the case of Sanna Irshad Mattoo on July 2, Hassan too was not provided any reason for the action.