03 January 2004	Saturday	10 Ziqa'ad 1424

SRINAGAR, Jan 2: A hardline Kashmiri leader and 40 other Muslims have been denied permission to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, a government official said on Friday.

Syed Ali Geelani, who leads the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, had applied to the government of occupied Kashmir for permission to go on for Haj with his wife. "As of today, the government has decided he (Geelani) will not be allowed to proceed for the Haj," a state official said.

The applications of 40 others, most of them linked to freedom fighters groups, had also been rejected, the official added. Another official said the state intelligence department had drawn up a list of 135 people, including Geelani, that it urged be barred from making the trip and the recommendations were being strictly followed.-AFP