How India Just Tightened The Grip On ISI Man Ghulam Nabi Fai

Budgam: In a significant crackdown against separatist activities, the Budgam district administration, in coordination with police, on Tuesday attached immovable property belonging to US-based Kashmiri activist Dr. Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai. The officials said that the action was carried out on the directions of the Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The attachment was ordered under Section 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), corresponding to Section 85 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, after Fai was declared a proclaimed offender in a case registered in 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Judge Yahaya Firdous passed the order on an application moved by Assistant Public Prosecutor Mohammad Iqbal Rather. The case, registered at the Budgam Police Station, invoked Sections 10, 13 and 39 of the UAPA.

In compliance with the court’s directions, the district collector Budgam has taken possession of land measuring one kanal and two marlas under Khewat No. 60, Survey No. 466 at village Wadwan, and land measuring eleven marlas under Khewat No. 136, Survey No. 343 at village Chattabugh. Together, the attached land amounts to more than 1.5 kanals.

The NIA court noted that Fai had been directed to appear before the investigation officer of FIR No. 46/2020 within 30 days of the proclamation issued earlier this year, but he failed to comply.

“The accused has chosen not to appear, as such, evaded the process which compelled the IO to move an application under Section 83 of Cr.P.C (85 of BNSS) for attachment of property,” the court observed, adding that he had “deliberately and intentionally concealed himself.”

Dr. Fai, originally from Budgam, was declared a proclaimed offender in May 2025 in connection with the FIR filed in 2020. He was asked to surrender before the Budgam Police within 30 days but remains concealed in the United States.

Fai moved to the US decades ago and headed the Kashmiri American Council in Washington, which US authorities later exposed as a front for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In 2011, he was arrested by the FBI and convicted of secretly receiving millions of dollars from the ISI to fund lobbying efforts, serving a two-year prison sentence.

Budgam Police said the attachment of property is part of a broader effort to take firm and lawful action against individuals promoting separatist ideology.

Officials stressed that the move sends a strong message to separatists operating from foreign soil that strict legal measures will be enforced under the law of the land.

“This attachment is more than a legal step; it’s a clear message. By declaring offender absconders and seizing their assets, India is showing its resolve to choke separatist influence and dismantle propaganda networks allegedly backed by Pakistan’s ISI,” legal experts said.