Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has been accused of being an Inter Services Intelligence agent and funneling its money into the United States to influence American lawmakers on Kashmir, has admitted to taking money from Pakistan's spy agency.
During his detention hearing at the US district court in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, the prosecution said that Fai, the head of Kashmiri American Council, had admitted to receiving funds from the ISI.
His attorneys, Nina Ginsberg and Khurram Wahid, claimed that though Fai took money from the ISI, he never toed their line, a statement which was strongly contested by the federal prosecutors during the court hearing on Tuesday.
The federal prosecutors told the court that 62-year-old Fai not only received $ 4 million from ISI, but also strictly followed their agenda on Kashmir.
Responding to questions from the defence attorney, Special Federal Bureau of India Agent Sarah Webb Linden told the court that Fai's agenda was heavily dictated by the ISI.
In fact, for his meetings, agenda and speeches, he received bullet points from his ISI handlers in Pakistan.
Fai did what "ISI asked him to do," she said.
US Attorney Gordon Kromberg said 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 acknowledged his links with the ISI and admitted that he had received money from the Pakistani spy agency.
Fai's attorneys argued that taking money from ISI does not mean that he toed their line.
Fai, who was arrested by the FBI last week, was released on a $100,000 bond. He is currently under house arrest with a radio tag around his ankle for electronic surveillance.
