America Is Mad at Pakistan

Some people have reacted to the U.S. arrest of Kashmiri lobbyist Ghulam Nabi Fai by saying that the main reason for his arrest is the recent bitterness in relations between America and Pakistan and not a result of any special fondness for India.

According to Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy, the U.S. is sending the message that they are mad at Pakistan.

The question is: If the FBI has been collecting information about Fai for years now, what was the meaning of his recent arrest?

For years Fai has come to the U.S. to organize a conference on Kashmir. Many senior journalists and other well-known people from India have taken part in this conference. Included in this list are journalist Ved Bhasin, Justice Rajinder Sachar, professor Angana Chatterji, Rita Manchanda, journalist Victoria Schofield and Kuldip Nayar.

According to Shubojit Bagchi, a longtime BBC reporter in Kashmir, people from the Indian Intelligence Agency have talked about Fai’s alleged close relations with Pakistan, and their complaint has been that America hadn’t yet acted against him despite having information.

“Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill”

Human rights advocate Gautam Navlakha was surprised by the allegations made against Fai, but he admitted that he was an easy target.

On the alleged $21,000 spent by Fai on publicity in the U.S. elections, Gautam Navlakha said, “We are making a mountain out of a molehill. In America, can you buy a senator with just $21,000? If anyone thinks that they are going to change Americans’ mind about Kashmir by spending $4 million over 20 years, then we are really far from reality.”*

Institutes like the Kashmiri American Council work to shape public opinion in influential forums like the European Parliament and the American Congress. And if any institute with important Indian or American names is sympathetic with the Pakistani point of view, then this is a matter of worry for India.

BBC reporter in Washington Zubair Ahmed has already participated in the Kashmiri American Council’s conference on Kashmir. He said that most of the speakers at the conference seemed to be quite close to Pakistan’s view of the Kashmir problem, which Kuldip Nayar and Justice Sachar also objected to.

He said, “Kuldip Nayar and Justice Sachar objected when they were drafting a resolution, stating that there was a steeper tilt towards Pakistan in the resolution. Some changes were made to it afterward because of their speaking up.”*

According to Zubair, when he talked to Fai about the conference’s being sympathetic to Pakistan’s point of view, Fai responded that, despite invitations, Indian journalists and legislators hadn’t come to the conference, and “it even seems to them sometimes that Pakistan and supporters of Aazad Kashmir hijack the conference.”

“Taking Part in the Conference”

On this, Gautam Navlakha said that if he had known that the conference’s expenses were being covered by the ISI, then he wouldn’t have taken part in it because the issues he works on must be kept at a distance from the government. Otherwise, the work itself will be questioned.

Senior journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, who discusses possible solutions to the Kashmir problem with the government, and Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy have said before that if they had known who funded the conference, they wouldn’t have participated.

But Ved Bhasin of the Kashmir Times said that he would take advantage of any opportunity to discuss his ideas with any forum at all.

He said, “People from just one side usually attend these conferences, and this causes a division, but we do get the chance to express our own opinions as well.”*

Bhasin continued, “I attend many conferences. We’ve never asked before where the funding comes from. If someone invites you to eat, you don’t ask where the mutton and the lamb come from. Several conferences are even called by Indian agencies, and we’ve even participated in some of them. America has taken such steps to pressure Pakistan when its relations with Pakistan are deteriorating.”*

Bhasin said that many years ago, when he participated in a conference for the first time, he had asked Fai about the institute’s money and was told that about 2,000 members of the Kashmiri American Council living in various countries had provided financial help.

Bhasin said it was wrong to discredit someone’s character on the grounds of minor allegations.

Bhasin said it would be wrong to say that Indian participants’ thinking would be affected by going to such conferences, and that they would discuss a friendship between India and Pakistan in future forums.

On this, according to Navlakha, if any resolution has included a criticism of India, it would be wrong to say that the conference is anti-India.

He said, “For the last 21 to 22 years, Kashmir has been under military oppression, so it is obvious that the center would remain in Indian Kashmir. There’s nothing surprising about this. But the movement is happening here.”*

*Editor’s Note: These quotations, though accurately translated, could not be verified.