21.7.11

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai



On the face of it, the FBI investigation into “Kashmiri” activist Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai has resulted in a criminal complaint charging him with “conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign principal”. But the US affidavit in the case is, even more, a devastating indictment of the Pakistani government and its spy outfit ISI, and the nefarious and illegal means they employed in the US in an effort to highlight the Kashmir issue. In fact, so severe is the Department of Justice/ FBI expose of Pakistani government and the ISI that some analysts are wondering if this is the Obama administration’s response to Islamabad fingering US spooks and diplomats in Pakistan. On Tuesday, Pakistan prevented seven US personnel from entering Peshawar because they did not have a “no-objection certificate”, a day after federal authorities arrested the prominent activist associated with the Kashmiri separatist movement. He was picked up from his Virginia home and charged with being part of a conspiracy to act on behalf of the Pakistan government and military without disclosing his affiliations. Back here, a 45-page affidavit filed in a Virginia courtroom offers a withering scrutiny of ISI shenanigans as it funnels millions of dollars through a Washington DC-based frontman, including through hawala transactions, to try and manipulate the debate on Kashmir. Fai is just a tool, the frontman. The FBI affidavit records the role of Pakistan and the ISI (leaving little wiggle room by naming them both) in trying to subvert US systems and processes. The document also identifies and names senior ISI officials—unlike in Headley case—though they have not been charged as defendants. The Fai/Kashmir/ISI/Pak case was probed by FBI’s counterterrorism division. The star of the probe is special agent Sarah Webb Linden, who (according to the affidavit), is trained in “identifying terrorist activity directed at the US, as well as in identifying the support network for terrorists who seek to target the interests of the US and its allies”. Linden was earlier a professional staff member of the 9/11 commission. In the FBI affidavit, Linden says the Washington DC-based Kashmiri-American Council is one of three “Kashmir Centers… run by elements of the Government of Pakistan.” This investigation, she adds, “has revealed that elements of the Govt. of Pakistan, including the ISI, have been directly involved with activities of defendant Fai and that Fai has acted at the direction and with the financial support of those elements… including ISI.” The affidavit names Fai’s primary supervisor within the ISI as Brigadier Javeed Aziz, who also goes by the nickname ‘Rathore’ and three others, including Touqeer Mehmood Butt, Sohail Mahmood, and an individual nicknamed ‘Abdullah’. It also reveals telephone and e-mail coordinates of the handlers while observing that “Fai has been in contact with his handlers over 4000 times since June 2008”. In a devastating para, Linden says, “Fai has received approximately $500,000 to 700,000 per year from the Government of Pakistan,” through another frontman named Zaheer Ahmad, a Pak-American co-accused now in Pakistan. Fai hails from Kashmir, did MA from Aligarh Muslim Univ, PhD from US. Ensnared by ISI in late 1980s, given up to $4m by ISI to push Pakistan’s position on Kashmir in Washington. FBI affidavit says his Kashmiri-American Council is one of 3 such organizations “run by elements of the govt of Pakistan”. Prominent Pak-Americans in US issued cheques to Fai, claimed tax exemption on “donations” to KAC, and were reimbursed through ISI slush funds

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