Pak groups in US stunned by Fai's 'political' arrest

Depending on which American groups you consult, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai is either a long-time stooge of the ISI or an “icon of peaceful struggle.” A US citizen, Fai was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly channeling $4 million in ISI funds into fancy conferences and lobbyist payments to US government officials to promote the Pakistani intelligence agency’s agenda in Kashmir. The arrest follows a lengthy FBI investigation on Fai and the organisation that he ran, the Kashmiri American Council. The type of activity Fai allegedly engaged in violates US laws requiring people working on behalf of foreign governments to register with the US government. (Zaheer Ahmad, another US citizen, was charged with the same crime, and he is believed to be in Pakistan.) As we have previously reported , the US accused Fai in court documents of a “decades-long scheme with one purpose—to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.” [caption id=“attachment_46027” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“The arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai in the US has blown the lid off the ISI agenda in Kashmir. PTI”] [/caption] Fai’s Pakistani contacts have “allegedly funneled millions (of dollars)” through a non-profit organisation called the Kashmiri American Council (also known as the Kashmir Centre) to “contribute to US elected officials, fund high-profile conferences, and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.” American congressmen who have worked with Fai, such as Representatives Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania and Dennis J. Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, say they did not know about Fai’s ISI connections, and they are now scrambling to divorce themselves from his work. “I don’t like to be used by anybody,” Mr. Pitts told The New York Times. “It is very upsetting.” Arrest commended Indian-American political organisations praised the US government for ferreting out secretive Pakistani intelligence operations in the US. “The arrest of Fai is a troubling reminder of the extensive reach and influence of the ISI,” Aseem Shukla, Hindu American Foundation (HAF) co-founder and board member said in a statement . “We commend the FBI for exposing the alleged illegitimate activities of the Kashmir Centre and revealing its connection to the ISI, an authoritarian government institution of Pakistan that does not heed the norms or laws of public engagement—at home or abroad.” The Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) similarly commended the US for unearthing “ISI’s covert lobbying operations in the US.” “IAKF always believed that the KAC and the Kashmir Centre, Washington, was funded beyond their means because it had full time staff and prime office space with media advisors bent on misleading the US Administration, US Congress and various Think Tanks,” the board of directors said in a statement . “It was always clear that this group was following the official Pakistani version of the Kashmir story. In all instances, the truth was obfuscated by misinformation provided by our opponents masquerading as Kashmiri freedom fighters.” Representatives of Indian-American organisations also expressed regret that Fai’s deception may have ultimately undermined progress for Kashmir. “We’re disappointed that the Kashmir Center’s possibly false identity as a legitimate non-profit went unnoticed for so many years as it secretly advanced Pakistan’s interests on Kashmir while ignoring the plight of more than 350,000 Kashmiri Hindu Pandits,” said Sheetal Shah, HAF’s Senior Director, in a statement. “If Pakistan is found to have contravened American laws and attempted to influence US foreign policy through the Kashmir Centre, such actions must be denounced, and further affect the flow of military support into that country. Furthermore, this is US taxpayer dollars going to a rogue state who is then sending it back to the US through covert means to influence our government officials to do its bidding.” IAKF felt similarly, and in a statement, it said that it was “hopeful that these covert operations funded and supported by Pakistan will be finally dismantled and US lawmakers will get an opportunity to listen to the true stories of real victims of terrorism. IAKF completely believes in the US Justice system and is hopeful that the whole truth will finally come out in the open and justice will be served.” No surprise Many have long suspected that Fai was under the thumb of the Pakistani government. Zubair Ahmed, a BBC reporter, recalled attending an annual conference advocating for Kashmiri peace that Fai organised in 2010. The Washington D.C. event was a lavish affair, and rumours swirled that the Pakistani government was footing the bill. “US-based Indians have often described him as a Pakistan agent, accusing him of organising anti-India protests in Washington and New York at the behest of Pakistan,” Ahmed wrote . When Ahmed asked Fai outright to respond to such allegations, Fai “flatly denied them, saying his main objective was to draw the attention of the US administration to the plight of the Kashmiri people.” ‘An icon of peaceful struggle’ Pakistani-American organisations, on the other hand, have reacted to the news of Fai’s arrest with surprise and frustration. Salim Akhtar, the national director for the Pakistani American Democratic Forum—a member of the Pakistan-American National Alliance (PANA), a coalition of 13 pro-democracy Pak-American organisations—told Firstpost he was “astonished” by Fai’s arrest, and that he and his organisation hope that he will be exonerated of the charges. “My immediate reaction to this is that this is a political thing,” Akhtar said. “It seems very much political because Dr Fai is one who has established a forum for the Kashmiri people. He is utilising dialogue. We fully support people who struggle through democratic norms and peaceful norms, and he is a symbol in that sense. I would encourage anyone like Dr Fai, who struggles for independence, human rights, and civil rights. To me, he is an icon of peaceful struggle.” He also finds the timing of Fai’s arrest suspect. “It coincides with our secretary of state [Hillary Clinton] visiting India, and it appears to me that this is a move to appease India in some way, or to further put pressure on the Pakistani military. This was political and it should have been resolved politically instead of making Dr. Fai a scapegoat.” Akhtar added that the situation is full of hypocrisy since the US is “doing the same thing. How many people in Pakistan are on the CIA payroll?” Despite the current strained relations between the US and Pakistan, the House Foreign Affairs Committee rejected a measure to cut off all aid to Pakistan. Fai still in detention Fai was scheduled to face a detention hearing on Thursday in a US federal court in Virginia. But the hearing, which would have determined whether Fai would remain in US custody or released on bail, was postponed until next Tuesday. In court, “an attorney from the area appeared to inform the court that a partner in his law firm… had been retained by Fai,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, told Firstpost. “She had a previously scheduled court appearance in a different court room and couldn’t make it to the hearing.” Fai is currently in the custody of US Marshals, and he is being held in the DC area. Fai’s attorney could not be reached for comment. At next Tuesday’s detention hearing, the judge will also schedule another court date so that a magistrate court can hear arguments about whether the US government had enough evidence to arrest Fai.