Navlakha questioned over J&K links

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), earlier this week, questioned civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha about his links with Syed Gautam Nabi Fai, the US based Pakistan bankrolled Kashmiri separatist who was arrested by the FBI in 2011 and later sentenced to a two-year term, two people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Navlakha, currently in prison, was taken into custody by NIA from July 17 till July 22 for interrogation, and was particularly asked about a claim made by US Attorney Neil H Macbride in an affidavit in 2011 on the basis of a FBI investigation that claimed “Gautam Navlakha was introduced to an ISI General for recruitment by Fai at the ISI’S direction”, the officials said.

The agency is also investigating Navlakha’s visits to the US on few occasions to attend seminars on Kashmir organized by Fai’s Kashmiri American Council (KAC). Interestingly, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met Ghulam Nabi Fai in New York during his visit there in September last year.

According to US Department of Justice and FBI documents, Fai, who was arrested in July 2011, received around $3.5 million since 1990 from Pakistan government officials and the ISI.