The FBI arrested a Virginia man on Tuesday on charges that he has been illegally working on behalf of the Pakistani government in the United States.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, a US citizen of Pakistan origin, is accused of illegally receiving large amounts of money from Pakistan’s government and acting as an unregistered agent and lobbyist on their behalf.
The FBI claims that Pakistani officials directed Mr. Fai to use money they gave him to make strategic political donations to members of Congress, and to develop contacts in the White House and State Department. The FBI did not arrest Mr. Fai on charges of espionage.
Mr. Fai heads the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC, and is known in the area as a vocal advocate for Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir, the disputed mountainous border area between India and Pakistan. Embassy officials in DC deny any ties to him.
“Mr. Fai is not a Pakistani citizen and the government and [the] Embassy of Pakistan have no knowledge of the case involving him,” the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington told Al Arabiya on Tuesday.
The FBI also alleges government operatives in Pakistan actually run the KAC by proxy.
A federal court affidavit reveals the FBI estimates Mr. Fai received between $500,000 and $700,000 a year from Pakistan’s government. Mr. Fai has donated to political campaigns since the mid-1990s, most notably to the past three campaigns of Congressman Dan Burton, head of the House Pakistan caucus. Prosecutors say none of the politicians had any knowledge the money was coming from the Pakistani government.
FBI investigators said they began investigating the KAC on a tip from an informant, who said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency created it to “propagandize on behalf of the government of Pakistan with the goal of uniting Kashmir.”
This incident is the latest occurrence in the complicated US-Pakistan relationship which has grown increasingly stressed since US Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May.
(Richard Burchfield is an Intern at Al Arabiya News in Washington, DC. He is a participant in The Fund for American Studies and the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University (DC). He can be reached at richard.burchfield@mbc.net)
Mr. Fai heads the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC, and is known in the area as a vocal advocate for Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir, the disputed mountainous border area between India and Pakistan. Embassy officials in DC deny any ties to him.
“Mr. Fai is not a Pakistani citizen and the government and [the] Embassy of Pakistan have no knowledge of the case involving him,” the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington told Al Arabiya on Tuesday.
The FBI also alleges government operatives in Pakistan actually run the KAC by proxy.
A federal court affidavit reveals the FBI estimates Mr. Fai received between $500,000 and $700,000 a year from Pakistan’s government. Mr. Fai has donated to political campaigns since the mid-1990s, most notably to the past three campaigns of Congressman Dan Burton, head of the House Pakistan caucus. Prosecutors say none of the politicians had any knowledge the money was coming from the Pakistani government.
FBI investigators said they began investigating the KAC on a tip from an informant, who said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency created it to “propagandize on behalf of the government of Pakistan with the goal of uniting Kashmir.”
This incident is the latest occurrence in the complicated US-Pakistan relationship which has grown increasingly stressed since US Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May.
(Richard Burchfield is an Intern at Al Arabiya News in Washington, DC. He is a participant in The Fund for American Studies and the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University (DC). He can be reached at richard.burchfield@mbc.net)
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