Jammu and Kashmir Police have made a sensational set of disclosures in its charge sheet against senior PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, a close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. In a 19-page charge-sheet, the Counter Intelligence Kashmir(CIK), a wing of the CID department of J&K police, has described Parra’s 13 years of the journey from 2007 as a journalist and politician as a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing”.
The charge-sheet accused Para of being hand-in-glove with terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir and of taking directions from Pakistan-based terror outfits. The charge sheet said Parra was an “asset” for Pakistan-based terror groups and helped them in furthering their nefarious designs in Kashmir while ensuring that his political rivals were neutralised.
Parra is said to have forged ties with terrorists to advance his political ambitions and returned the favour by providing an array of help and support that resulted in terror attacks.
Parra’s journey from a local journalist to the power corridors of the PDP
The charge sheet charts the meteoric rise of Parra from being a run-of-the-mill journalist working for a local media cable network at a Pulwama town to becoming the blue-eyed boy of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. Parra joined the PDP in 2013 and within a short span of time, he became the president of the youth wing of the party and was considered one of the important members of the party.
It is alleged that he harnessed the terror connections that he cultivated years earlier to rise through the political ranks. The Jammu and Kashmir police believe the start of Parra’s association with terrorists dates back to the year 2007 when he visited Pakistan and interviewed self-styled supremo of the terror outfit Syed Salah-ud-Din. The police believe Parra was part of a terror conspiracy and his visit to Pakistan was meant to allegedly facilitate the enemy’s strategy.
The charge sheet states that Parra had links with Pakistani terrorists Abu Dujana and Abu Qassim. According to the police, Parra routinely met them personally as well as through one Over Ground Worker(OGW) Mohammad Yosuf Lone. The police also claimed that Parra’s cable network office was used as a meeting place for OGWs.
Dujana and Qassim were both involved in a string of terror attacks in the Jammu and Kashmir provinces respectively. They both were neutralised by the Armed Forces in two separate encounters on 29 October 2015 and 1 August 2017.
Parra allegedly paid Rs 5 crore to fuel violence in Kashmir
Another explosive revelation made in the charge sheet pertains to payment made by Parra to fuel violence in Kashmir. It is alleged that the PDP youth leader had paid Rs 5 crore to the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for keeping the unrest in Kashmir on the boil following the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in the year 2016.
The charge sheet says Parra got in touch with Altaf Ahmad Shah, aka Altaf Fantoosh, after the death of Burhan Wani in 2016 and asked him to keep the Valley in turmoil by carrying out unrest and stone-pelting.
Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra arrested in November 2020 in connection with a terrorism case
On 25 November 2020, Waheed-ur-Parra was arrested by the National Investigation Agency(NIA) for his alleged close ties with Irfan Shafi Mir, who was arrested along with Hizbul Mujahideen militant Naveed Babu and suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Singh.
Earlier in January, Parra got bail by the NIA court but, he was arrested by the CIK wing in a case related to nexus between mainstream politicians and separatist elements, and he continues to remain in jail since then.
The PDP youth leader was held under custody by the CIK wing and brought to Jammu on transit remand, following his release by an NIA court on 9 January 2021.
