§ Mr. McGOVERNasked the Secretary of State for India if he is aware that Dr. Mohamad Alam, vice-chairman of the Lahore Bar Association, ex-president of the Punjab National Congress, and a civil disobedience prisoner lately released from gaol, now the president-elect of the Indian Congress in East Africa, is refused 2156W a passport for Kenya by the Punjab Government on the grounds of his conviction; and, as civil disobedience is a political offence and involves no moral turpitude, is he prepared to direct the granting of a passport?
§ Sir S. HOARE:I have received no information regarding any refusal of a passport to Dr. Mohamad Alam. The matter is one for the discretion of the authorities in India and I am content to leave it in their hands. I may add that the grant or refusal of passports in India does not depend on considerations of moral turpitude.