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Fai admits he took money from ISI

Fai admits he took money from ISI

Author: Lalitk Jha
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 28, 2011
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fai-admits-he-took-money-from-isi/823386/0

Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, accused of being an ISI agent and funnelling its money into the US to influence American lawmakers on Kashmir, has admitted to taking money from Pakistan's spy agency, but claimed that he never toed its line.

During his detention hearing at the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, the prosecution said that Fai, the head of Kashmiri American Council, had admitted to receiving funds from the ISI.

His attorneys, Nina Ginsberg and Khurram Wahid, claimed that though Fai took money from ISI, he never toed their line, a statement which was strongly contested by the federal prosecutors during the court hearing on Tuesday.

The federal prosecutors told the court that 62-year-old Fai not only received US$4 million from ISI, but also strictly followed their agenda on Kashmir.

Responding to questions from the defence attorney, Special FBI Agent Sarah Webb Linden told the court that Fai's agenda was heavily dictated by the ISI.

In fact, for his every meeting, agenda and speeches, he received bullet points from his ISI handlers in Pakistan. Fai did, what "ISI asked him to do," she said.

US Attorney Gordon Kromberg said Fai has been an ISI agent for the past two decades. He told the court that during his interrogation after his arrest on July 19, Fai acknowledged to his links with ISI and having received money from the Pakistani spy agency.

Fai's attorneys argued that taking money from ISI does not mean that he toed their line.

Fai, who was arrested by FBI last week, was released on a US$100,000 bond and under house arrest with a radio tag around his ankle for electronic surveillance.

US won't let Kashmiris down: Fai

Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, charged with illegally lobbying the US on Kashmir for Pakistan, has said the people of Kashmir have no reason to fear from America.

"I say with fullest possible consciousness that the people of Kashmir have no reason to fear that the world powers in general, and the United States in particular, will let them down," Fai said in a written statement.

Fai's lawyer Khurram Wahid distributed copies of the statement after a US district court ordered that the separatist leader, 62, be released from prison and put under house arrest under electronic surveillance. "It has been my lifelong commitment to people...of Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of their religious background and cultural affiliations, to help achieve the right of self-determination to decide their future. God willing I will continue to do that in days, weeks, months and years to come," Fai said.

Fai lauded the "traditional support" of the US to basic principles of fundamental freedoms and democratic process and President Barack Obama's vision about South Asia.


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