1980 PSA warrant still pending against Fai

Police and Intelligence agencies have got specific leads about involvement of some top ISI officers, foreign and Indian nationals and some other individuals and organisations, who had openly helped Dr Sayyid Ghulam Nabi alias Fai son of Syed Habib Shah, a resident of Soibugh, Badgam in Kashmir Valley in funding terror activities and espousing cause of subversion in the Valley.

Meanwhile, a warrant under Public Safety Act (PSA) issued by the District Magistrate, Badgam on August 4, 1980 against Fai for his involvement in anti-national activities in Kashmir was still lying unexecuted with police. However, he deserted the Valley before he could be detained under the PSA and since then hasn’t returned to India.

Documents available with police and Intelligence agencies revealed that it was Fai, who had sown the seeds of subversion and anti-national activities in seventies before deserting Kashmir in 1980. He started his activities from the United States in nineties with the help of Pakistan and its agencies including the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Official sources told the Jk News that a very specific input given by the Intelligence agencies had revealed that Fai along with United States based one Angana Chatterjee had tried to win over a controversial female Indian writer through all possible means including money to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Kashmir and defame security forces especially Army with a view to champion the cause of Kashmiris.

The female writer had recently been in news for sharing platform with a separatist writer in the Kashmir Valley and a Public Interest Litigation had also been filed against her in the court for registering a case of sedition. The Intelligence input revealed that the conspiracy by Fai was made in February 2011. The conspiracy was now part of official Intelligence documents.

"Dr Fai had funded an American Television channel reporter, Dr Rachel Maddow and made him to visit Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in February 2011 to shot certain programmes in which PoK citizens were shown claiming human rights violations in Kashmir’’, sources said.

Sohail Mehmood alias S Mir and Tauqeer Mehmood Bhat, two top officers of Pakistan’s Intelligence Agencies (ISI) were in regular touch with Fai. They had generated all resources for a "100 hour vigil’’, a programme sponsored by Fai held at Pennsylvania, United States in which many speakers had alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.

Sources said there were many more Indian writers, intellectuals, journalists, NGOs and other individuals and organisations with whom Fai was in regular touch and managed to win over them to carry out Pakistani propaganda on Kashmir issue.

Fai had way back in seventies managed to infiltrate his workers in the Government Departments to give calls for hartals as and when desired. He had successfully used the Government employees for giving hartals calls or supporting the calls given by him on some occasions.

Tracing history of Fai in Kashmir, sources said, he hailed from same village Soibugh, which happened to be the native town of United Jehad Council (UJC) supremo Syed Salah-ud-Din. He had been involved in anti-national activities right from seventies but it was on August 4, 1980 that the then District Magistrate of Badgam had issued a PSA warrant against him for his involvement in subversive, communal and anti-national activities.

"The warrant is still pending against him for execution in police records’’, sources said.

They pointed out that it was after the issuance of PSA warrants against him that Fai had deserted Kashmir and fled to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries before finally settling in the United States where he had formed Kashmir American Council (KAC) to conduct seminars, press conferences and other functions at the behest of the ISI. Few days back, a Virginia court in the United States had sentenced Fai to two years imprisonment.

Fai had worked as General Manager in ‘Azan’ newspaper at Srinagar, which, according to sources, was also used in seventies for fanning subversion in Kashmir and instigate Kashmiri people against India. He had tried to float a militant outfit, Muslim Students Military Force but hadn’t succeeded in giving a formal shape to it as he deserted Kashmir on issuance of PSA warrant against him, sources said.

After doing Post Graduation from Jeddah University in Saudi Arabia, Fai returned to Kashmir in early seventies and became a member of Jamaat-e-Islami and simultaneously started working as General Manager in ‘Azan’ newspaper. It was, however, for the first time in 1977 that he developed links with Pakistani agencies when he went to Saudi Arabia.

He had called ‘World Islamic Conference’ in Srinagar under the banner of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1978 in which speakers from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other Islamic nations were called. The Government of India had banned the conference and sent back the people from Islamic nations, who had come to attend it.

"It was Fai, who had instigated the mob in much publicized clash between Army and civilians on July 26, 1980. The clash had occurred after an Army vehicle had collided with a three-wheeler in Srinagar. The people had beaten-up the Army personnel. On the same evening, the Army men had returned to Jhelum in strength and threw out many vehicles in the river’’, sources recalled and said "it was Fai, who had provoked the people against Army’’.

After the incident, Fai had again fled to Saudi Arabia.

Prior to that, Fai had delivered highly inflammatory speech on July 13, 1980 on the occasion of "martyrs day’’. Same day, he had taken out a joint procession in Sopore of two organisations—the Jamaat-e-Islami and Mahaj-e-Azadi in which he had delivered anti-national speeches.

Sources said even while staying in the Kashmir Valley, Fai had remained in regular touch with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic nations to arrange funds to carry out anti-India propaganda on Kashmir. On the eve of a conference of Jamaat-e-Islami organized in May 1980 in Srinagar, Fai had openly admitting having received Rs 84,000 donations from foreign countries excepting Pakistan. In the conference, Fai had called for implementation of United Resolutions in Kashmir.

The documents revealed that Fai had organized various anti-Indian programmes including one at Tral on April 28, 1972 and Kulgam on September 24, 1972. He had even opposed Indira-Sheikh accord of 1975 and openly championed the cause of Prisoners of War (PoWs) of Pakistan held hostage in 1971 war.

On April 19, 1974, he organized a major programmes of students and anti-national elements in which he formally sowed the seeds of subversion and virtually declared a war on India.

He instigated the people of Kashmir with his speech.

On April 19, 1975, Fai held a rally at Mohdpura in Kulgam and blamed National Conference patriarch and then Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for sacrificing the interests of the people of Kashmir for his "personal gains’’.

On July 17, 1980, he called for freedom to the people of Kashmir in a rally held at Baramulla.

Few days later, he held a rally at Budshah Chowk in which he made the people to raise slogans in favour of independent Kashmir or right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

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