NIA arrests PDP’s Parra in terror case

STATE TIMES NEWS

New Delhi: PDP youth wing president Waheed ur Rehman Parra was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday for allegedly conspiring with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in securing their support during the 2019 parliamentary elections, officials said here.
The officials alleged that Parra, who recently filed his nomination for district Development Council (DDC) elections from Pulwama in South Kashmir, was arrested for his alleged “close links” with Irfan Shafi Mir, arrested along with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu and suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh.
According to officials, during investigation into Singh’s association with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, the NIA came across the phone records of Mir which showed that he was in close touch with Parra.
The spokesperson of the NIA only gave a brief statement saying “today NIA arrested Waheed Ur Rehman Parra, the youth wing leader of People’s Democratic Party, in connection with the Naveed Babu-Davinder Singh case for supporting Hizbul Mujahideen in conspiracy with the other accused persons.” During questioning, Mir had claimed that Parra had actively sought his support during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for party candidate Mehbooba Mufti, who is also the president of PDP, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba reacted on Twitter saying that “BJP milks illegal scrapping of Article 370 in every nook and corner of the country. But when it comes to Kashmiris questioning its abrogation they are locked up and punished. Everyone knows at whose behest Devinder Singh worked for. Ironic that they have the gall (sic) to blame others.”
She also said that Waheed has no connection whatsoever with Singh and “is being falsely charged. All just to blackmail and intimidate PDP and other mainstream political parties in JK”. Officials said that Parra, who was being interrogated for the last two days at the NIA headquarters, was not cooperating during the questioning prompting the agency to place him under arrest. Mir was acting as a front man for Naveed Babu and indulging in political support against monetary and other gains, the officials said.
Mir, who has emerged as a “double agent”, was arrested along with Singh and Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu and accomplice Rafi Ahmad Rather. Mir was sitting in the car driven by Singh on January 11 along with Naveed and Rather when their car was intercepted by Jammu and Kashmir Police near Qazigund on the national highway connecting the Valley with the rest of the country.
A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of an AK-47 rifle, three pistols and a cache of ammunition and explosives. The NIA took over the case on January 17.
The NIA filed the charge sheet under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Mir, Singh, Naveed, his brother Syed Irfan Ahmad, Rather and businessman Tanveer Ahmad Wani, former president of the Line of Control Traders Association. According to the NIA, the accused were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and Pakistani State agencies “to commit violent acts and to wage war against the Union of India”. During his extensive questioning, the NIA said Mir told them he had met Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salauddin, his deputy Amir Khan, the so-called operational chief Khursheed Alam and the terror group’s financial head Nazar Mehmood where the broad concept of “Bleeding Heart” was discussed. Later during his stay in Pakistan, Mir had a meeting with ISI officers like Umar Cheema, Ahshan Chaudhary and Sohail Abbas who also tasked him to work on a new “Hawala (non-banking) channel” for transfer of money for sustaining terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley.