A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Srinagar rejected the bail application of PDP leader Waheed Parra on Tuesday, saying if a balance is to be struck between the personal liberty of a person accused of “heinous” crimes and the security of the state, it is the latter that prevails.
The Peoples Democratic Party leader was arrested by the NIA on November 25, 2020, days after he filed his nomination to contest the District Development Council (DDC) polls.
Rejecting his plea, the court said 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 Kashmir in the garb of a politician”.
The 19-page order also rejected Parra’s argument that he was a budding politician, saying “a perusal of the CD [case diary] 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”.
His bank accounts show huge transactions, the source of which could not yet be ascertained, and the matter is “still being investigated and the facts would come out with the passage of time and conclusion of the investigation”.
His lawyers 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”.
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 are misusing their position and have established clandestine connections and relations with different Pakistan-supported terrorist and secessionist organizations operating in Jammu Kashmir for a number of reasons, including the immediate motive for furthering their political clout.
The NIA also said that during the preliminary analysis of Parra’s phone, it has emerged that he 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 on round workers (OGWs) in the UK and other parts of the world”. Parra has also been in touch with a number of militants, the agency said.
Among other allegations, the NIA says Parra visited foreign countries to have “one-on-one meetings with agents from enemy countries” and travelled to Pakistan to meet Syed Salahuddin, the self-styled chief of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen group.
With inputs from PTI