Centre mulls revoking author Aatish Ali Tasser's OCI card for 'concealing his father was Pakistani'

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government is considering to revoke the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card of the controversial author and journalist, Aatish Ali Taseer, for concealing facts about his father's Pakistani origin.

According to a tweet by the Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson, Tasser concealed crucial information in his PIO application and failed to respond to a notice sent to him by the government in this regard. 

"Govt. considers revoking Author Aatish Ali Tasser's OCI card after his Time article..", as reported by #ThePrint, is a complete misrepresentation and is devoid of any facts.

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) November 7, 2019

In a series of tweets, the Home Affairs Ministry spokesperson also refuted a media report, which claimed that the government is considering revoking the New-York based journalist's OCI card over his strongly-worded article in the Time magazine, which was highly critical of the Narendra Modi government. 

It may be noted that Tasser, in his Times article, had strongly criticised the Narendra Modi government and called the PM as ''decider in Chief.''

The MHA spokesperson said that Taseer concealed in his Person of Indian Origin application the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin, and failed to dispute the notice sent to him in this regard, thereby making him ineligible to hold an OCI card, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Mr. Taseer was given the opportunity to submit his reply/objections regarding his PIO/OCI cards, but he failed to dispute the notice.

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) November 7, 2019

"Govt. considers revoking Author Aatish Ali Tasser's OCI card after his Time article..", as reported by ThePrint, is a complete misrepresentation and is devoid of any facts," a tweet read. 

"Mr Aatish Ali Taseer, while submitting his PIO application, concealed the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin. Mr Taseer was given the opportunity to submit his reply/objections regarding his PIO/OCI cards, but he failed to dispute the notice," the following tweets read.

Mr. Aatish Ali Taseer, while submitting his PIO application, concealed the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin.

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) November 7, 2019

"Thus, Mr Aatish Ali Taseer becomes ineligible to hold an OCI card, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. He has clearly not complied with very basic requirements and hidden information," the spokesperson went on to say. 

Meanwhile, Taseer has denied the spokesperson's assertions and tweeted an image of an email of Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty acknowledging his response to the objections by the government. 

"This is untrue. Here is the Consul General's acknowledgement of my reply. I was given not the full 21 days, but rather 24 hours to reply. I've heard nothing from the Ministry since," Taseer tweeted.

The image accompanying the text reads Consul General responding to Taseer's email as: "This is to acknowledge the receipt of your response. We have forwarded your response to the concerned authorities."