Pakistani spies 'operating in Britain'

Pakistani spies 'operating in Britain'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8648589/Pakistani-spies-operating-in-Britain.html

Pakistani spies have been operating a front organisation in London to exert political pressure on the government, it was claimed on Tuesday.

Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, right, and Pakistan's intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha. Photo: AP
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent8:25PM BST 19 Jul 2011
Details of the organisation emerged as two alleged spies were charged in the United States of failing to disclose their affiliation with the Pakistani government.
They are accused of secretly promoting Pakistani interests in the long-running conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over the disputed border region of Kashmir, using millions of dollars of covert funding.
Their arrest came as relations between the US and Pakistan continue to deteriorate in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a US citizen from Fairfax, Virginia, and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citizen who has been living in Pakistan, were charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign power in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
According to an affidavit filed in the US, Fai serves as the director of the Kashmiri American Council, a non-governmental organisation in Washington that was founded in 1990.
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The centre describes itself in educational materials as a “not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising the level of knowledge in the United States about the struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination.”
But the affidavit alleges that the KAC is actually one of three “Kashmir Centers” that are run by “elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan’s military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).”
The two other “Kashmir Centers,” it said, are in London and Brussels. A Scotland Yard source said they were liasing with US authorities but had not made any arrests.
Neil MacBride, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Mr Fai was accused of a “decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.”
Mr MacBride added: “His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funneled millions through the Kashmir Center to contribute to U.S. elected officials, fund high-profile conferences, and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.”
A Scotland Yard source said they were liaising with US authorities but had not made any arrests.
Fai and the KAC have received at least $4 million, from the Pakistani government since the mid-1990s through Ahmad and his funding network, according to the affidavit.
Fai was arrested but Ahmad remains at large and is believed to be in Pakistan. Both face a potential sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
According to a statement by the US Department of Justice, a confidential witness told investigators that he participated in a scheme to obscure the origin of money transferred by Pakistan’s ISI to Fai to use as a lobbyist for the KAC in furtherance of Pakistani government interests.
A second confidential witness told investigators that the ISI created the KAC to issue propaganda on behalf of the government of Pakistan with the goal of uniting Kashmir, half of which is in India.
This witness said the ISI’s sponsorship and control of KAC were secret and that ISI had been directing Fai’s activities for the past 25 years.
The affidavit alleges that four Pakistani government handlers have directed Fai’s US activities and that Fai has been in touch with his handlers more than 4,000 times since June 2008.
The statement said Fai asked for $100,000 from the Pakistani government in 2009 for contributions to members of Congress.
The US Department of Justice said there was no evidence that any elected official who received financial contributions was aware that the money originated from any part of the Pakistani government.
When questioned by the FBI in March 2007, Fai allegedly stated that he had never met anyone who identified himself as being affiliated with the ISI.