People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti today said the “only crime” of the party’s jailed youth leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Para was to stand for “truth and reconciliation”.
She said Para was arrested on “baseless charges” and termed his imprisonment as “the tragedy of ‘New India’”.
“Having fought for the right to freedom for others, its been almost a year since @parawahid has been jailed on baseless charges,” Mehbooba wrote on her twitter handle. “His only crime is that he stood for truth & reconciliation & is now being punished for it. This is the tragedy of ‘New India’.”
Para, the youth president of the PDP, has been booked under terror charges and the police charge sheet accused him of being “an asset for Pakistan-based terror groups” and described his political career as a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing”. The charges have been denied by his lawyer.
He was also among those unionist politicians who were detained by the Government of India on the eve of the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s limited autonomy in August 2019.
On 12 August, Mehbooba took to the social networking site saying she “terribly” missed Waheed Para.
“On this International Youth Day, I terribly miss our Youth President Waheed Para who played a stellar part in engaging with youngsters in J&K,” Mufti tweeted.
