Jammu & Kashmir Islamic Democratic Party (JKIDP) staged a protest outside the National Press Club (NPC) on Tuesday against the arrest of Kashmiri leader Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai by FBI in the United States (US). Dr Fai, executive director of the Washington-based Kashmiri American Council (KAC) was arrested by FBI in Washington on July 19 on the charges of getting money from ISI and using it to lobby for the Pakistani government inside the United States. The protesters chanted slogans against the US government. They were holding banners inscribed with slogans, demanding the release of their leader. The protesters said that Dr Fai had been struggling for the Kashmiris for the last many years and they ruled out all the allegations against him by the American government and the agencies. The protesters alleged that Dr Fai’s arrest was a joint move by India and America to suppress the voice of Kashmiris.
JKIDP Chairman Syed Ghulam Raza Naqvi said that Dr Fai had been working for the freedom movement of Kashmir for the last two decades. “It is a conspiracy to demoralise the Kashmiri people working in the whole world, we would go to any length for the release of Dr Fai and to get freedom,” he said. He, however, claimed that they supported the talks between India and Pakistan but if the right of self-determination of the Kashmiris would not be protected, both the countries would come at a brink of war. “Freedom of Kashmir is necessary for the peace in whole South Asia while the Dr Fai has also been arrested for raising his voice for the same demand,” he said.
