Fai a sideshow as FBI nails ISI, Pak govt

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Fai-a-sideshow-as-FBI-nails-ISI-Pak-govt/articleshow/9299535.cms

WASHINGTON: On the face of it, the FBI investigation into ''Kashmiri'' activist Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai has resulted in a criminal complaint charging him with ''conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign principal.'' But the US affidavit in the case is, even more, a devastating indictment of the Pakistani government and its spy outfit ISI, and the nefarious and illegal means they employed in the US in an effort to highlight the Kashmir issue.

In fact, so severe is the Department of Justice/FBI expose of Pakistani government and the ISI that some analysts are wondering if this is the Obama administration's response to Islamabad fingering US spooks and diplomats in Pakistan. On Tuesday, Pakistan prevented seven US personnel from entering Peshawar because they did not have a ''no-objection certificate.''

Back here, a 45-page affidavit filed in a Virginia courtroom in the Fai case offers a withering scrutiny of ISI shenanigans as it funnels millions of dollars through a Washington DC-based frontman, including through hawala transactions, as it tries to manipulate the debate on Kashmir. Fai is just a tool, the frontman.

In painstaking detail, the FBI affidavit records the role of the Pakistani government and the ISI (leaving little wiggle room by naming them both) in trying to subvert US systems and processes. The document also identifies and names senior ISI officials -- unlike in the Headley case – although they have not been charged as defendants.