Washington, Dec 8(ANI): A Kashmiri-born American citizen has pleaded guilty to violating American law by secretly receiving millions of dollars from Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, to lobby for Kashmir's independence.
Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, was arrested in July on the charges of not registering himself as a foreign government agent.
The Pakistan Government has, however, denied being aware of Fai's activities.
Fai, and a US citizen of Pakistani origin, Zaheer Ahmad were charged with siphoning off at least four million dollar Pakistani funds to influence the US position on the Kashmir issue.
Prosecutors alleged Ahmad recruited people to act as donors to provide money through a front group, the Kashmiri American Council, from the Pakistani Government.
The Kashmiri American Council had a much smaller budget and it said that it received no foreign grants.
"For the last 20 years, Mr Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pakistani intelligence and lied about it to the US government," US lawyer Neil MacBride said.
"As a paid operative of ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency), he did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistan while he met with US elected officials, funded high-profile onferences, and promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington," he added.
The US also alleged that the council funded US election campaigns, as well as White House and state department officials meetings
Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for decades. (ANI)
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