Pakistan's ISI could try its best to rescue Ghulam Nabi Fai, accused of being on its payroll for 20 years and funnelling its cash into the US to influence lawmakers on Kashmir, feel federal prosecutors, who also claim that the Kashmiri separatist had lived 'a life of lies'.
Assistant US Attorney Gordon Kromberg said ISI has a wide network of supporters and agents across the globe and would try its best to rescue 62-year-old Fai, head of the Kashmiri American Council who has been put under house arrest with electronic surveillance and an unsecured bond of USD 100,000.
"Based on the information in the complaint and to a large degree conceded by Mr Fai after his arrest, he has been an agent of the Pakistani intelligence service for more than 20 years," he said.
"As such it is likely that the Pakistani intelligence service has an obligation to try to protect Mr Fai from getting prosecuted for being their agent. As a result, he likely has a network of support internationally from the secret service of a foreign government," Kromberg said.
"There is no doubt at this point that he agrees that he has been an affiliate of the Pakistani Secret Services Intelligence Directorate Agency for, he says, 15 years, we say more than 20.
Either way he has been in contact with his handlers hundreds and thousands of times," he said.
The ISI has facilities throughout Europe, Kromberg said.
"As we stated in the complaint there are equivalent Kashmiri centres in London and Belgium. He (Fai) could obtain assistance from the ISI without going to Pakistan. He has gotten millions of dollars over the last 20 years from the ISI in the US through a network of supporters, through a network of people used by Zaheer Ahmed (another US citizen charged along with him) to transfer ISI money to Fai," he said.
Noting that Ahmed - who is believed to be in Pakistan - is still free, Kromberg said in court there is no reason to believe that Ahmed cannot get money to Fai even to this day in America or elsewhere around the world.
"The complaint explains Zaheer Ahmad obtained money, arranged for thousands of dollars for Mr Fai to be passed to Mr Fai when Mr Fai was in Turkey. There is no doubt that through the ISI Mr Fai can get assistance financially and otherwise all around the world," he said.
"Mr Fai has travelled internationally by my counts over 35 times in the past five years. He is a seasoned traveller. He is comfortable travelling. He left Kashmir when he was in trouble with the Government in Kashmir and he never returned," the Assistant US Attorney said.
Kromberg said Fai told the FBI Special Agent that he fled Kashmir to Saudi Arabia when he learnt he would be arrested in Kashmir.
"And by his own account, he has not returned to Kashmir since then. He is a traveller; he has access to help from a foreign intelligence service. He is an agent of foreign intelligence service," he said.
"Even if as the defence suggested everything he does is not for the foreign intelligence service, it is undisputed that some of the things that he does is for the foreign intelligence service. As a result foreign intelligence service likely has obligations to the defendant and is likely to try to help him and therefore (he is) is a risk of flight and we can't assure that he would be around for trial," said the US attorney.
Responding to Kromberg's remarks, Nina Ginsberg, Fai's attorney, said that it was 'a wild speculation' that ISI might try to rescue Fai.
"I think Mr Kromberg's wild speculation that the ISI has some obligation to protect Dr Fai is totally unfounded and is mere speculation," she said.