Washington, Jul 27: Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai has admitted to receiving funds from Pakistan's ISI to influence law makers on Kashmir in a Virginia court which released him on a bond but put him under house arrest with a radio tag around his ankle for electronic surveillance.
62-year-old Fai, a Kashmir-born US citizen, who was arrested by the FBI last week on charges of working for the Government of Pakistan, in particular its spy agency, told the court yesterday through his Attorneys that he took money from ISI.
US Attorney Gordon Kromberg alleged that 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 has acknowledged to his links with the ISI and having received money from the Pakistan's snooping agency.
During FBI questioning, Fai had lied to the federal agents that he had any connection with the ISI.
This fact was acknowledged by Fai's two attorneys—Nina J Ginsberg and Khurram Wahid—but they argued that taking money from ISI does not mean that he toed their line.
“He (Fai) denied that (he received money from ISI before arrest....There are many many reasons, it may be that could justify why he is not wanting that information (receiving money from ISI) to be public,” Ginsberg said.
At his detention hearing, Magistrate Judge Rawles Jones at US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, ordered that Fai be released from prison on a personal bond of USD 100,000 and put under house arrest with electronic surveillance.
He has been asked to stay with his wife at the Fairfax residence in Virginia. Both he and his wife Chang Ning Ying Q, who is of Chinese origin, have been asked to surrender their passports. PTI
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