Crackdown on US-based Kashmiri separatist’s network launched

A police spokesperson said that multiple searches were conducted by Budgam police to target his network

Jammu and Kashmir police have launched a crackdown on the alleged separatist network of Ghulam Nabi Fai in Kashmir. Fai is currently living in the US.

Ghulam Nabi Fai is currently living in the US. (HT)

Officials said that police in central Kashmir’s Budgam today carried out a massive crackdown on the network of Fai, a native of Wadwan Budgam and presently residing in the United States of America.

A police spokesperson said that multiple searches were conducted by Budgam police to target his network.

“Dr Fai is involved in FIR No. 46/2020 under Sections 10, 13 and 39 of the ULA(P) Act and Section 66 of the IT Act at Budgam Police Station. The court of NIA special judge, Budgam, has already declared him a proclaimed offender on April 30, 2025, in connection with the said case. Proceedings of attachment of his property are also being carried out by Budgam Police,” the spokesperson said.

Fai heads the Washington-based Kashmiri American Council (KAC), which the police said is backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and is known for propagating Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir.

“ In a recent interview with a Turkey-based TV channel, Dr Fai made statements supporting the banned organisation JKLF (Y), declared unlawful vide government notification SO 1403(E) Dated March 22, 2019,” the statement said.

During the operation, multiple houses were searched and several individuals were detained for questioning.

Fai, executive director of Kashmiri American Council, was charged and sentenced in 2012-13 in US for “conspiring to act as Pakistani agents in the United States without registering as foreign agents”.

An FBI affidavit filed in court in 2011 had said Fai and the group received “several million dollars from Pakistan and its military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, since the mid-1990s in an effort to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir”. Fai had pleaded guilty for lobbying.

The police spokesperson said that Budgam Police has also intensified its crackdown on J&K Nationals operating from Pakistan/Pak-Occupied Kashmir (JKNOPs) and SIM card vendors allegedly facilitating terror communications.

“Budgam police reiterates its commitment to dismantling the terror support infrastructure and ensuring lasting peace, security and stability in the district,” read the statement.