'Parra involved in 'dirty' gunrunning, paying terrorists for political gains'

New Delhi: The NIA has alleged that PDP youth leader Wahid-ur-Rehman Parra is involved in "dirty" gunrunning, providing finance to terror groups and being "part of the larger conspiracy" hatched by Pakistan-based terrorist outfits to make "inroads" into important institutions in Jammu and Kashmir to carry forward their secessionist agenda.

According to a supplementary charge-sheet filed at a Jammu court recently in the terror funding case, which also involves a deputy superintendent of police, Davender Singh, the agency has listed Parra's activities since 2010 and alleged that he had formed a group of 20 to 25 youths who indulged in stone pelting during protests at his behest.

This was done by Parra to yield political mileage for himself from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleged. The party was in the opposition in 2010 in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It may be mentioned that in 2010, an agitation had taken place against the killing of three youths in the Macchil area of north Kashmir and they being labelled as terrorists. The protests, in which 126 lives were lost, were carried out despite police filing a charge-sheet against army personnel.

Parra, who is at present in judicial custody, has denied the charges of he being involved with terror groups, and his party has said that he has been framed in the case only because he refused to join political parties being supported by the BJP.

The NIA alleged that banned terror group HizbulMujahideen had sought the support of some mainstream political leaders like Parra.

The nexus clearly establishes that some of mainstream politicians are involved in "politics of convenience and deceit wherein they are seeking help" from terrorist organisations for "securing cooperation during election campaigns and for assisting their workers in management of election process, the agency said in its charge-sheet.

"These mainstream politicians are seeking this cooperation through payment of money thereby making mockery of the electoral process," the NIA said.

In the charge sheet, the NIA has alleged that Parra was involved in the "dirty business" of gunrunning from Kupwara area to south Kashmir in 2016, when PDP was in an alliance government with the BJP in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state.

"He (Parra) used to visit the Kupwara area with his escort party and bring weapons in his vehicle as none of the security agencies used to check his vehicle en-route (with he) being an important political entity," the agency said.

Parra was arrested by the NIA in November last year in connection with the terror funding case in which DSP Davinder Singh and three others were also arrested.agencies