Washington-based Kashmiri Activist Ghulam Nabi Fai Declared Proclaimed Offender
The police said that the accused “is presently concealing himself in the United States, persistently evading arrest, and obstructing the legal process under the law”
SRINAGAR: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jammu and Kashmir has declared Washington-based Kashmiri activist Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai a proclaimed offender under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA], 1967 after he failed to appear before it in a terror activity case even after warrants were issued against him. The court has directed him to surrender before the J&K police within 30 days from the date of proclamation.
The police said that it successfully secured the declaration of Mr. Fai as a proclaimed offender through the Special Judge of the NIA court in the Valley’s central district of Budgam.
Mr. Fai, the founder of Washington-based Kashmir American Council, is originally from Wadwan, a village in Budgam, near here and he had migrated out of India in the early 1980s to pursue higher studies and also espouse the Kashmiri “freedom” cause. He became a US citizen in 1990.
The police said that the accused “is presently concealing himself in the United States, persistently evading arrest, and obstructing the legal process under the law.” The police added that in the light of his continued non-cooperation and deliberate attempts to conceal himself to evade arrest, the Budgam police presented a plea before the court which while acting on it declared him a proclaimed offender.
The police said that the case in which Mr. Fai is wanted (FIR No. 46) was registered at the Budgam Police Station under Sections 10, 13, and 39 of the UAPA.
Section 10 of the UAPA addresses penalties for being a member of an unlawful association, or for engaging in activities that aid or promote such an association. Section 13 deals with punishment for such activities and Section 39 with offences related to supporting a terrorist organization.
77-year-old Mr. Fai, who currently serving as the secretary General of the Washington-based ‘World Kashmir Awareness Forum’ and the chairman of the World Forum for Peace & Justice’ besides being associated with some other organisations, was with a Pakistani American Zaheer Ahmad arrested by the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on July 19, 2011 and charged with conspiracy, saying they lobbied the US government without disclosing the fact that they were being funded by the Pakistani government, including its spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was also accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, concealing the transfer of US $ 3.5 million from the ISI to fund his lobbying efforts and influence the US government on the Kashmir issue in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
In December 2011, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion, and, in March 2012, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by a US court for "conspiracy to defraud the US." India had welcomed the sentencing, saying it was long overdue. The Union Home Ministry had said that it had a fair degree of suspicion that the money which Mr. Fai received was given by the agencies in Pakistan.
However, Mr. Fai was released from a Maryland federal correctional institution in November 2013 after an assistant US attorney who had prosecuted Fai asked the court to reduce his sentence to 16 months-time served and the motion was granted by the original sentencing judge.
Meanwhile, the J&K (Budgam) police have reaffirmed its “commitment to pursue criminal cases against individuals evading justice and arrest, whether within India or abroad, ensuring due legal process and judicial determination through proper trial”.