New Delhi, July 14 -- The passport is a document issued by the government to "regulate the departure" of Indian citizens from the country and is issued after due verification, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday against the backdrop of a debate whether passports can be used to verify citizenship.

Senior officials of the external affairs ministry had described the passport as a travel document, and not a document of citizenship, at a briefing on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas on June 24. The officials responded to a question on whether the passport can be used as proof of citizenship for the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls underway in several states by saying that the document is only meant for Indians t...