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.
