NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik, who returned here on Saturday after a visit to Pakistan, was allowed to leave for Srinagar on Sunday without ‘formal questioning’ by the authorities.

Apart from his brief interaction with intelligence officials manning the immigration counter at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, he was spared a detailed explanation for his appearance along side Hafiz Saeed, the suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind, at a protest in Islamabad.

Eyebrows were raised here when Mr Malik shared the dais with the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief at a hunger strikers’ camp organised in protest against the hanging of Afzal Guru for his alleged involvement in the Indian parliament attack.

Home ministry sources said the ministry was yet to take a call on revoking Mr Malik’s passport for his activities in Pakistan.

According to an official, the JKLF leader’s passport is unlikely to be reissued after it expires on March 19. Agencies are contemplating blocking his passport for a year or two, he said. Mr Malik had, however, been advised by Indian authorities to lie low and not to make any ‘intemperate’ remarks or statement that could fan tempers in held Kashmir which is already tense since the hanging of Afzal Guru last month.

—By arrangement with Times of India