Washington, Jul 21: Separatist Kashmiri leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has been arrested by the FBI on charges of working for the Pakistan's ISI, was the point man of contact for the Hurriyat leaders whenever they visited the US.
From organizing public events, to making their appointments in the Administration or with the US lawmakers and think-tanks, it was Fai who managed things for them, in particular moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Fai, with his deep contacts in the Administration and with the US lawmakers, was always successful in getting appointments that the Hurriyat leaders wanted to.
Sources familiar with the events say that Fai almost all the times accompanied Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders for these meetings including the State Department.
Fai and Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders could be spotted together at the lobby of the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and at the UN headquarters. For any media interview here with the Hurriyat leaders, Fai was always the point of contact.
According to the FBI, Fai received more than USD 4 million in the past several years from the ISI to lobby on behalf of Pakistan before the Administration and the US lawmakers on the issue of Kashmir.
While Fai publicly stated that he represented the people of Kashmir, the FBI affidavit claims that Fai in deed worked for the ISI; wherein his ISI handlers in Pakistan determined what Fai was going to speak, what would be his agenda and even who to invited to his conferences.
Even this year in February, Kashmiri American Council and Fai was instrumental in hosting a public lecture for Mirqaiz at the George Mason University.
“I would like to thank the people of Pakistan for their complete and unconditional solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their eagerness to help the people of Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination which was guaranteed at the United Nations Security Council as early as 1948,” said Mirwaiz, while addressing a seminar titled ‘India- Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock Over Kashmir', according to a press release issued by Fai on February 6 this year after the conference.
Addressing the event, Iffat Gardezi, the Deputy Chief of Mission, Pakistan Embassy in Washington, said she was there to reiterate Pakistan's unconditional moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris for a just and peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute.
