News Analysis India

Tag: Waheed Parra

  • Court frames terror charges against PDP leader Waheed Parra

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: A special court has framed terror charges against Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, a senior PDP leader and close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, based on a police charge sheet claiming that he was an asset for Pakistan-based terror groups and that his 13-year journey as a journalist and politician from 2007 was a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing”.

    The court had heard arguments on the framing of charges from the defence and the prosecution earlier this month and it allowed framing of charges against Parra, who is alleged to have established a nexus with terrorists.

    He sought support from terrorists for political gains and reciprocated by providing a range of help which led to terror strikes.

    The eight-page order made available on Monday stated that “prima facie there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code.” The special NIA judge charged him with being a member of a terror group, raising funds for them as well as aiding an outfit.

    He was also charged under sections related to waging of war against the country, spreading disaffection against the government and criminal conspiracy.

    “I have gone through the police report as well as the statements of the witnesses of the prosecution and have applied my mind into the present facts and circumstances levelled in the police report as well as statements of the witnesses and the digital evidence against the accused, there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences,” the judge said in his order.

    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 the court alleging that Parra 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 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 Shariq Reyaz has denied all these charges and said that he would contest the order against his client.

    The charge sheet has 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 police 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 charge sheet 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).

    The CIK had filed a case last year against unknown politicians and others based on “reliable and confidential sources” who said some political functionaries were misusing their power and helping militants.

    In March this year, Parra was charge-sheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and it was 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 Kashmir in turmoil after the death of Burhan Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist group, in 2016.

    The NIA accused Parra, who was arrested last November, of being involved with banned terrorist groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

    The NIA alleged that after the death of Wani, who was killed in an encounter with the Army in July 2016, Parra got in touch with Altaf Ahmad Shah, alias Altaf Fantoosh, and asked him to ensure that the valley was kept on the boil with widespread unrest and stone-pelting.

    In January this year Parra was granted bail by the NIA court, which said there was no reference to him in the original as well as the supplementary charge sheets presented in July and October last year respectively.

    However, he was arrested by the CIK Wing in the case related to nexus between mainstream politicians and secessionists, and he continues to be in jail since then. His bail was rejected by the NIA court in Srinagar.

  • Court rejects bail application of PDP leader Waheed Parra; to hear arguments on chargesheet

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: A special court here Thursday rejected the bail plea of PDP leader Waheed Parra, the second time in five months, and decided to hear Friday arguments on the chargesheet filed against him, officials said.

    Parra is considered a close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

    The in-camera proceedings had been hearing the arguments of defence and prosecution over the maintainability of the case filed against Parra, who was initially arrested by the NIA in a different case related to terror-funding.

    The complete judgement on the rejection of the bail application would be made available Friday, the officials said.

    In a related development, the court also said that it would begin hearing arguments on the charges filed against Parra from Friday.

    This is the second time in the last five months that the court has rejected Parra’s bail application.

    Dismissing the bail plea in February, the court had said the charges against him were “grave, serious and heinous in nature” and that a preliminary analysis of evidence collected till then showed he was allegedly aiding militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the garb of a politician.

    In the 19-page order, the special court had rejected the argument that Parra was a budding politician and said “a perusal of the CD file transpired that in the garb of a politician, the petitioner had been playing an active role in funding the militants and had also been demanding arms and ammunition against payment by misusing his position”.

    Parra was detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (Kashmir) and brought from Jammu on a transit remand, after his release by an NIA court on January 9.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Parra on November 25 in a separate case related to terrorism.

    The counsel for Parra claimed that his client had managed to win the District Development Council elections while in the custody of the NiA, which alleged that he had paid Rs 10 lakh to Naveed Babu, a terrorist of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, for “managing” the 2019 parliamentary elections in south Kashmir.

    The Jammu and Kashmir Police last month filed a chargesheet against Parra in a case related to the alleged nexus between politicians and terror groups in the union territory.

    Parra has been chargesheeted by the Criminal Investigation (Kashmir) wing of the Jammu and Kashmir’s CID under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act dealing with waging war against the country and threatening peace.

    The CIK had filed a case last year against unknown politicians and others based on “reliable and confidential sources” who said some political functionaries were misusing their power and helping militants.

    The Jammu and Kashmir Police had also carried out an Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDR) analysis of Parra, the PDP youth wing president, to probe allegations that he was in touch with secessionists and terrorists across the border.

    The IPDR helps track the details of a call or message generated by a phone device and includes details like the number from which the call was made, destination port, start and end date and time.

    In March this year, Parra was chargesheeted by the NIA and it was alleged he had paid Rs 5 crore to the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for keeping Kashmir in turmoil after the death in 2016 of Burhan Wani, who was then the poster boy of banned Hizbul Mujahideen terror group In January this year, Parra was granted bail by the NIA court, which said there was no reference to him in the original, as well as the supplementary charge sheets presented in July and October last year respectively.

    However, he was arrested by the CIK wing in the case related to nexus between mainstream politicians and secessionists, and continues to be in jail since then.

    His bail was rejected by the NIA court in Srinagar.

  • J&K militancy probe: Court rejects bail plea of PDP leader Waheed Parra

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: A special court rejected the bail application of PDP leader Waheed Parra on Tuesday, saying the charges against him were “grave, serious and heinous in nature” and that a preliminary analysis of evidence collected so far show he was aiding militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the garb of a politician.

    In a 19-page order, the special court here rejected the argument that Parra was a budding politician and said “a perusal of the CD file transpired that in the garb of a politician, the petitioner had been playing an active role in funding the militants and had also been demanding arms and ammunition against payment by misusing his position”.

    The bank accounts show huge transactions and the matter is still being investigated and the facts would come out with the passage of time and conclusion of investigation, the court said.

    Parra was detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (Kashmir) and brought from Jammu on a transit remand, after his release by an NIA court on January 9.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Parra on November 25 in a separate case related to terrorism.

    The counsel for Parra claimed that his client had managed to win the District Development Council elections while he was in custody of the National Investigation Agency which alleged that he had paid Rs 10 lakh to Naveed Babu, a terrorist of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, for “managing” the 2019 parliamentary elections in south Kashmir.

    The judge, while rejecting this contention said that Parra having won “does not deserve any consideration because it means that the petitioner is a highly influential person and can tamper with evidence and no witness would depose against him”.

    The judge said the allegation against the accused “are so grave, serious and heinous in nature that if a balance is to be struck vis-a-vis the personal liberty of petitioner and the security of the state/UT, it is the interest and the security of the state/UT which shall prevail.

    ” The counsel for Parra, while arguing in the court, said the political rivalry has become order of the day as the ruling classes or the ruling parties are time and again blamed for framing their opponents who may be the greatest patriots or nationalists but in order to force them either to join the parties which are ruling and no stones are left unturned in order to force and coerce.

    The counsel said the contest and winning of the DDC elections “has annoyed and anguished the other political rivals and parties of the petitioner and till now he has not even been allowed to take oath.

    ” He said that the petitioner “has been made scapegoat because of the political rivalry and that he has been a very great and good motivator for nationalism and the integrity of the country” and that the allegation of being an unscrupulous political leader having supported terrorists and secessionist is devoid of any evidence, merit and basis.

    He claimed that there has been no evidence collected against the petitioner in this case and the facts and evidence is being fudged and padded to falsely implicate him in the case “so as to please the political masters”.

    However, the prosecution presented before the court the investigation carried out so far by the police in the case registered after reliable and confidential sources said that some political functionaries misusing their position and have established clandestine connections and relations with different Pakistan-supported terrorist and secessionist organisations operating in Jammu and Kashmir for a number of reasons, including the immediate motive for furthering their political clout.

    During the preliminary analysis of the phone, it has emerged that the accused has contacts across the border suspected to be his associates and handlers in Pakistan as well as with anti-national elements which include secessionists, terrorists and overground workers (OGWs) in the UK and other parts of the world, the counsel informed the court and also alleged that the accused has been in touch with a number of militants.

    It was also pointed out in the court that the accused had asked for security cover only as a “smoke screen” and he had passed instructions not to search any visitors which were mainly anti-national elements and OGWs.

    The accused had visited foreign countries to have one-on-one meeting with agents from enemy countries.

    He travelled to Pakistan and met Syed Salahuddin, the self-styled chief of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, the prosecution alleged.