News
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Geelani denounces arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai in US
SRINAGAR: A separatist leader in Indian-held Kashmir said on Wednesday the Kashmiri-born man arrested in the US on suspicion of being a Pakistani agent is a victim of a diplomatic conspiracy.
The charge against Ghulam Nabi Fai of the Kashmiri American Council alleges he is an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The US Justice Department said that he donated millions to a Washington non-profit in a secret lobbying effort led by Pakistani intelligence to influence US policy on disputed Kashmir.
The arrest is likely to complicate the already strained ties between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars since their independence over rival claims to the Himalayan territory. The UN-drawn line of control (LoC) dividing Kashmir is the world’s most heavily armed border.
Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday insisted Fai was innocent and called the allegation the “result of India’s diplomatic efforts and conspiratorial plans”. Both Fai and Geelani have openly opposed India’s heavy-handed rule and argued that Kashmiris should vote themselves to decide the territory’s final status. India has refused any such referendum, accusing Pakistan of fomenting conflict by arming and training rebels. Pakistan denies this and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support.
Over decades, stone-throwing Kashmiri youths have held regular street protests, and violent uprisings and crackdowns have left 68,000 people dead, most of them civilians, since 1989.
“Fai has been active for last 32-year highlighting the plight of his people,” Geelani said, while adding, “Because of his unflinching advocacy of the Kashmir cause at the international level, he had become an eyesore for India.”
Another separatist group, the pro-independence Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), also condemned the US charge as going against the democratic path of non-violence Fai advocated. “His arrest is against ideals of democracy and peaceful reconciliation. This is also against the US government’s approach and thinking.”
The Justice Department said in court documents that Fai directed by a top member of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), donated millions of dollars to US political campaigns, wrote newspaper op-eds, organised congressional trips and met with White House and State Department officials. It alleges Pakistan financed similar operations in London and Brussels.
US tax documents show Fai’s Kashmiri American Council had a much smaller budget and told the US government it received no foreign grants. Though the charges are not related to espionage, the arrest adds strain to the difficult US-Pakistan relationship, tested recently when the US found and killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan without telling the government there.
Geelani urged Kashmiris to protest on Friday and “foil the Indian designs to weaken the Kashmiri struggle”. He said that, unless Fai was freed, Kashmiris will lose their faith in the international community. Several of Fai’s colleagues in the US also said that they were stunned by Fai’s arrest, calling the soft-spoken 62-year-old a “gentleman” who dedicated his whole life to the Kashmiri cause. Associate Nadim Malik, head of advocacy group Kashmir Mission USA, on Tuesday insisted, “Dr Fai and the Kashmiri freedom movement have nothing to do with the ISI.” ap
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk