A special court in Srinagar has framed terror charges against Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, a senior Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. The charge sheet claimed that he was an asset for terror groups and that his 13-year journey as a journalist and politician from 2007 was a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing”.
Parra is also said to have formed contacts with terrorists for political gains offering them help and information in return that caused terror strikes. According to the order there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code.
He has been charged with aiding terrorist groups like Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba as well as raising funds for them. He was also charged under sections related to waging of war against the country, spreading disaffection against the government and criminal conspiracy.
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The judge said in the order that he has gone through the police report as well as the statements of the witnesses of the prosecution and has applied his 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 concluding that there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences.
The charge sheet also contains instances where Mr. Parra has made attempts to eliminate political opponents to help his party leaders by paying terror groups to swing the electoral battle in his party’s favor.
Shariq Reyaz, Mr Parra’s lawyer, has denied all these charges and said that he would contest the order against his client.
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On 13th June, The US authorities and Google were approached by the J&K Police to share email contents exchanged by Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra with the terrorist organizations.
PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has also alleged that the police were “torturing” Parra and keeping him in “inhuman conditions”.
Anyone who raises his voice against GOIs draconian measures is conveniently labelled as a Pakistani agent. A pity that our own institutions have stopped taking notice of such brazen human rights violations & instead the UN has to step in.https://t.co/7UDwTyJ7nv
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) June 7, 2021
She had tweeted earlier that Parra was being “persecuted and tortured to admit the false allegations. Since an admission didn’t happen, he is being kept under inhuman conditions. This investigation has been fraudulent and politically motivated from day one”.