Pakistan accused Washington on Thursday of a “slander campaign” against Islamabad over the arrest of a man accused of acting as a Pakistani government agent in the US.
Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a US citizen detained on Tuesday, is suspected of links to a decades-long effort that allegedly funneled millions of dollars to Washington to lobby US politicians on behalf of Kashmiri causes.
The US Department of Justice said Fai and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citizen and resident of Pakistan, faces five years in prison if found guilty.
“Dr Fai is a US citizen. A demarche was made to the US embassy in Islamabad today to register our concerns, in particular the slander campaign against Pakistan,” the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Fai was arrested on Tuesday morning and was due to appear before a court in Alexandria, near the US capital. Ahmad is believed to be in Pakistan.
“Foreign governments who try to influence the United States by using unregistered agents threaten our national security,” FBI assistant director in charge James McJunkin said.
The influence peddling allegations provoked an angry response from Islamabad.
“Upholding fundamental rights of Kashmiris is the fundamental responsibility of the international community and all conscientious people who value human rights and values,” the statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry added.
“Campaigns to defame the just cause of the Kashmiri people will not affect its legitimacy,” it added.
The allegations against Fai, which come amid increasingly strained ties between the US and Pakistan, center on the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), a -Washington-based group founded in 1990.
The KAC is suspected of being run by Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).
Kashmir was split in two in the aftermath of independence on the subcontinent when British rule ended in 1947. Both India and Pakistan claim the entire territory, which is divided by a heavily militarized Line of Control, and the nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory.
Kashmiri separatists on Thursday condemned Fai’s arrest, blaming a conspiracy to silence activists.
“It is unfortunate that a leader like Fai is being dubbed an agent. He has been representing -Kashmiris at various forums to make the world hear our views,” said Shabir Shah, a senior separatist in Kashmir.
“We strongly condemn his arrest. It is aimed at suppressing the voices who call for Kashmir’s freedom from India,” Shah said.
Hardline Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Geelani said: “It has been done at the behest of India and under a conspiracy to weaken the movement of Kashmiris at the diplomatic level.”
However, Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda said Fai had long been a suspect.
“He has been figuring in lots of things in the past, like what the US has already conveyed, the diversion of Pakistani funds for anti-national activities in India and particularly in Jammu and Kashmir,” Khoda said.
Earlier this month, the US decided to withhold a third of its annual US$2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad amid strained diplomatic relations following the May 2 raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The powerful Pakistani military was humiliated by the bin Laden raid, which attracted allegations of incompetence or complicity with al-Qaeda.
Pakistan has been adamant that there should be no more unilateral US raids, like that which killed bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad, although the White House has said it will act again if necessary.
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