Author: Balbir K Punj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 31, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/357331/Pawns-in-the-hands-of-ISI.html
Unwittingly or otherwise, Left-liberal intellectuals
who pose as crusaders of human rights have enjoyed the hospitality of the
ISI which violates all rights.
The arrest in Washington, DC by the FBI of
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai whose Kashmiri American Council was being funded by the
ISI has taken the lid off the fraud that has been going on for decades in
the guise of championing the cause of human rights. It is ironical that some
of our opinion-makers among the intelligentsia, while claiming to be fighting
for human rights, secularism and democracy, have ended up as pawns in the
hands of Pakistan's ISI, a self-professed enemy of these very values.
Do these high profile intellectuals, many
of them journalists, attend these seminars just because the organisers also
invite a host of other important personalities and pay for the trip? The entire
episode of the unmasking of Fai, who used his high-level connections in academia
and on Capitol Hill to further his agenda of trying to influence American
policy on Jammu & Kashmir, shows how the Government of Pakistan, which
denies human rights to its own people, uses foreign human rights organisations
as a cover for its nefarious activities.
Fai's has been a prominent face among those
advocating human rights for the people of Jammu & Kashmir. He chaired
a discussion at the 1993 Vienna conference on human rights which Pakistan
had used to try and force an anti-India resolution. Among other activities,
he was invited to address the UN Conference on Conflict Resolution where too
he propagated the separatist view against India. He presented a paper on the
'Kashmir Round Table' to the European Parliament in 1993.
Among the several platforms he used to air
his views in the West were the Washington-based Institute of Peace and the
'Kashmir Round Table' organised by the US Congressional Human Rights Foundation.
He has addressed the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, apart from summit
meetings of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in Saudi Arabia, Senegal,
Morocco, Iran, Qatar and Malaysia.
Fai studied at Aligarh Muslim University and,
as an active member of the students' wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, he had tried
to organise a World Muslim Youth Conference. When the Jammu & Kashmir
Police sought his arrest, he escaped to Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly despite
his background of being involved in separatist activity, Fai would often travel
to Jammu & Kashmir. He has two wives - a Kashmiri and a Chinese American
Muslim.
L'affaire Fai shows how human rights activism
has been hijacked by foreign intelligence organisations and their stooges
to sow seeds of distrust against our country and our democracy. More than
that, it also demonstrates how many of our peaceniks who participate in candlelight
vigils at Wagha border to promote peace between India and Pakistan are unwittingly
or otherwise becoming tools in the hands of agents of foreign intelligence
services.
The protestations of innocence by those who
attended conferences organised by Fai may be genuine, but it ought to remind
them of their failure to check the antecedents of foreign organisations that
offer all expenses paid invitations to seminars and meetings.
Protests against violations of human rights
are no doubt part of the democratic process. But more often than not, these
protests are one-sided. For instance, human rights activists were incensed
over the arrest and conviction of Maoist ideologue Binayak Sen but have remained
silent whenever Maoists have killed security forces personnel in Chhattisgarh
and other States. This sort of one-sided human rights activism is common in
Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and other conflict zones where insurgents often
kill innocent people and security forces personnel. These human rights activists
do not feel compelled to protest against the violence perpetrated by anti-national
and divisive forces but are quick to take offence when security forces crack
down on foreign-funded and externally-inspired insurgents and their supporters.
When there are protests against activist-author
Arundhati Roy for teaming up with separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani to
abuse not just our security forces but also the Indian State, human rights
activists denounce what they describe as interference with the democratic
right to protest. Now that the FBI has exposed the people who have been funding
Geelani and his ilk, shouldn't Arundhati Roy apologise for keeping the company
of ISI's proxies?
Meanwhile, the Government should review the
performance of its own intelligence agencies, especially R&AW. How is
it that Fai's well-oiled US-based propaganda apparatus escaped their radar
for more than two decades? When a former Indian citizen finances so many international
conferences, ostensibly for advancing human rights but really for pushing
the cause of Pakistan-backed Kashmiri separatists, how is it that our own
intelligence agencies fail to spot him and his linkages?
Had the FBI not blown Fai's cover after tracking
him over the last few years, this India-born ISI stooge would have carried
on with this dubious activities without anybody getting the wiser. The credit
for exposing Fai goes to the FBI which also exposed David Coleman Headley
and his associate, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
The failure of our intelligence agencies to
spot Fai and zero in on his patrons raises the question: Are they feeling
frustrated over sections of the current dispensation actively wooing those
elements who are inimical to India's interests? Are they veering round to
the view that it is futile to identify India's enemies because there are powerful
individuals who see them not as foes but friends? This dangerous trend could
have a debilitating impact on the functioning of our agencies at home and
abroad as they are prone to taking their cue from the political leadership.
Hopefully, l'affaire Fai will lead to some
amount of rethinking and weakening of those individuals who, like Fai, are
working to weaken our nation. They include bleeding heart human rights activists
and their mentors, as well as those who provide intellectual legitimacy to
violent anti-national activities. The least that is expected is that Left-liberal
intellectuals who are permanent fixtures on the global seminar circuit will
now onwards check the antecedents of their hosts and find out who is the real
sponsor of the event.
