Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan political party raising joined hands as a show of solidarity during a demonstration in Quetta, yesterday, to protest against the US drone attacks and the Nato supply. The drone war, targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan’s tribal badlands, is hugely unpopular among a public opposed to the government’s alliance with Washington and sensitive to perceived violations of sovereignty. Photo: Banaras Khan/AFP
Source/Credit: The Times of Malta; Wednesday, July 20, 2011
US justice officials charged two alleged Pakistani “agents” yesterday over a decades-long effort to illegally funnel millions of dollars to push the Kashmiri cause in Washington.
“Foreign governments who try to influence the United States by using unregistered agents threaten our national security,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James McJunkin in a written statement.
The Justice Department announ-ced conspiracy charges against Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a US citizen and resident of Fairfax, Virginia and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citizen and resident of Pakistan, and said both faced up to five years in prison if found guilty.
Mr Fai was arrested yesterday morning and was expected to appear shortly at a court in Alexandria, Virginia to hear the charges. Mr Ahmad was believed to be currently residing in Pakistan, officials said.
The complaint alleged that the two conspired illegally as Pakistani agents, falsifying and concealing material facts that they had a duty to disclose in dealings with the United States government.
Categories: Pakistan, United States