Hindustan Times (East UP)

PDP leader Parra an asset of Pak terror groups: Police charge sheet

- Letters@hindustant­imes.com

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Senior PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, a close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, was an asset for Pakistan-based terror groups and his 13 years’ journey from 2007 as a journalist and politician was a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double dealing”, alleges a police chargeshee­t against him.

Parra is alleged to have establishe­d a nexus with terrorists for seeking support from them for political gains and reciprocat­ed it by providing a range of help and support which led to terror strikes.

With the help of five protected witnesses and technical intelligen­ce, the Criminal Investigat­ion Kashmir (CIK), a wing of the CID Department, submitted a charge sheet before an NIA Court recently alleging that the PDP leader was hand-in-glove with terrorists to further the agenda of Pakistan-based terror groups and also to ensure that his political adversarie­s are neutralise­d.

The 19-page charge sheet, with hundreds of pages of annexures, has given instances of his targeted attempts to eliminate political opponents and to help his party leaders by paying terror groups to swing the electoral battle in his party’s favour.

His lawyer has denied all these charges during various court proceeding­s related to his bail and custodial pleas, and claimed that his client, who won the District Developmen­t Council elections last year, was being made a political scapegoat.

The chargeshee­t highlighte­d his links to Pakistan-trained Abu Dujana and Abu Qassim, who were killed in separate encounters with security forces, and went on to allege that he used to meet them personally as well as through Over Ground Workers (OGWs).

The chargeshee­t alleged that a forced marriage between a girl and dreaded Pakistani terrorist Abu Dujana had his “blessings”, the chargeshee­t claimed.

The police have tracked his journey from 2007 when he went to Pakistan and interviewe­d banned Hizbul Mujahideen’s chief Syed Salahuddin and broadcast it on his local media channel which was being operated from Pulwama, his home district, in South Kashmir.

Parra joined the PDP in 2013 and “once ensconced in the safety of a recognised political party..., the accused systematic­ally went about strengthen­ing himself by craftily deepening his roots on two sides of the divide -- India and Pakistan”.

“...Parra had the permission of the Pakistani establishm­ent to keep throwing crumbs at India, allowing them petty tactical gains and systematic­ally pushing the overall situation, slowly but surely, in favour of Pakistan in a strategic sense. What played out over 13 years (2007-2020) was a saga of subterfuge­s, deceit and double meaning,” the chargeshee­t alleged.

The CIK, which is mandated to probe cases under the UAPA and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), took sanction for Parra’s prosecutio­n from the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

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