The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party’s youth wing president Waheedur Rehman Para and two others for their alleged involvement in terrorism, in Jammu on Monday, 22 March.
The NIA sources said that Monday’s chargesheet mentioning Para and two others by name was actually a supplementary chargesheet against a detained and dismissed deputy Superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Davinder Singh, and a South Kashmir-based module of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
While Davinder Singh and his associates were arrested on the Srinagar-Jammu highway on 11 January 2020, the primary chargesheet against them was filed by the NIA on 6 July 2020. Now the NIA has filed the supplementary chargesheet, for the first time naming a key PDP leader, in the court of additional District and Sessions Judge, Jammu.
Sources said that Para, who was currently in custody of the Counterintelligence Kashmir (CIK) in Srinagar in connection with a different case, was produced before the judge through a videoconferencing link while his two associates, already in custody of the NIA, were produced physically.
According to the sources, a number of phone calls made on the open line four days after the Pulwama terror attack on 14 February 2019, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, has emerged as a key link between Para and Davinder Singh. Para has been charged under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and sections 17, 18, 38 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The co-accused Shaheen Lone and Tafazul Parimoo, who was arrested in 2019 in Pattan along with arms and ammunition, were already in NIA’s custody. Both worked closely with former BJP Sarpanch Tariq Ahmad Dar.
Para was arrested by the NIA on 25 November 2020 when he was contesting elections for the District Development Council (DDC) from his home constituency in Pulwama on the PDP ticket. He was declared elected in the results on 22 December but not released for taking oath. However, on 9 January 2021, the NIA designated court in Jammu ordered his release on bail and a surety bond. He was released but immediately taken into custody by the CIK sleuths for his alleged involvement in a different case.
Former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have repeatedly dismissed Parra’s detention as ‘part of political vendetta’. Coincidentally on Monday, Mehbooba was supposed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a different case of money laundering after the Delhi High Court refused to stay the summons issued to her. She however decided to not appear before the Central agency and attended a workers meeting at her residence in Srinagar.
It is for the first time that a chargesheet for alleged involvement in terrorist and subversive activities has been filed by an investigating agency against an important leader of Mehbooba’s PDP. Para was known to be her confidante since 2014. In addition to serving as President of PDP’s youth wing, Para also held a position in the PDP-BJP government as Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council.
For over three years, Para organised different sports events—mostly under the Government of India’s Khelo India programme—, ran election campaigns and political rallies, including one in honour of the former union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is now the union Defence Minister.
Para played a key role in ensuring the former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu’s victory from his home constituency of Rajpora, Pulwama, in 2014 as also in Mehbooba’s victory in the Assembly by-election from Anantnag in June 2016. He was also deeply associated with the PDP’s Lok Sabha elections campaign in 2014 and 2019.
The NIA had not mentioned Para’s name in its preliminary chargesheet against Davinder Singh. It was on this ground that the NIA court granted him bail. However, the NIA sources insist that suspected involvement of “some prominent persons” had been duly mentioned. “That time we were not sure of his substantive involvement. During the extensive investigation thereafter we learned about his involvement and obtained necessary evidence of his criminal association and links with Davinder Singh and the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists”, said an official.
Then a Dy SP with the anti-hijacking wing of the J&K Police posted at the Srinagar Airport, Davinder Singh was arrested by a team of the J&K Police on the Srinagar-Jammu highway between Anantnag and Qazigund while he was escorting some Hizbul Mujahideen operatives in a private car. Hizbul Mujahideen’s ‘District Commander’ for Shopian, Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu, was found travelling in the same car along with two associates—Rafi Ahmad Rather and Irfan Shafi Mir, all residents of Shopian area. All the four, including Davinder Singh, were arrested on the spot. One AK-47 rifle and 3 pistols were recovered from them.
Subsequently, the J&K Police recovered more arms and ammunition from Davinder Singh’s residence in the high security zone close to the headquarters of Army’s 15 Corps in Badami Bagh. Later the case was transferred to the NIA which also arrested Naveed Mushtaq’s brother Syed Irfan Mushtaq and several others.
The NIA has accused Singh of conspiring with the Pakistani agencies, the Pakistan High Commission officials and terror organisations to wage war against India. "The investigation has revealed that Pakistan-based leadership of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) namely Sayeed Salahudeen, Amir Khan, deputy chief of HM, Khursheed Alam operational head of HM, Nazar Mehmood, HM financial head, and others along with Pakistani establishment are extending support to the cadre and commanders of HM based in Jammu and Kashmir," the statement in July 2020 said.
Accord to the NIA, money was given to Irfan Shafi Mir by the Pakistan High Commission officials to organise anti-India seminars in Kashmir. Singh was being "groomed by Pakistan high commission to obtain sensitive documents”.
"The investigation also revealed that accused Irfan Shafi Mir not only met Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leadership in Pakistan, but also met Umar Cheema, Ahshan Chaudhary, Sohail Abbas and others of ISI and he was tasked to identify and activate new hawala channels for transfer of money for sustaining terrorist activities in Kashmir valley. Investigation also revealed that certain officials of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were in constant touch with Irfan Shafi Mir who was provided with funds to organise seminars in J&K to mobilise the masses against Government of India”.
"Irfan Shafi Mir also used to receive instructions and money from Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and also facilitated the visa applications for a number of Kashmiris for their visit to Pakistan. Singh was also in touch with certain officials of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi through secure social media platforms," the NIA statement said.
According to the NIA sources, Para figured in the investigation when it became clear that Irfan Shafi Mir, the middle-man between the Hizbul Mujahideen and Davinder Singh, demanded money from Para in a telephonic conversation from Jammu in February 2019. He allegedly sent cash worth Rs 10 lakh to the terror group through Singh and asked the operatives “to take care of the PDP workers” during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. On behalf of Para, PDP has refuted all these charges.
