On 27 July, Ansar Ghawzat-ul-Hind, a never known before Al Qaeda affiliate, took to Twitter to declare militant Zakir Musa as their new commander in Kashmir.
Zakir had succeeded Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani after the latter was killed in the Anantnag encounter last year. However, Zakir assumed the new role after breaking ranks with the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The claim by the shadowy group has once again put the spotlight on Zakir. A resident of Tral's Noorpora village, Zakir was a fun-loving guy before joining militancy.
He was fond of riding his bike down the slopes of Tral. His father, Abdul Rashid Bhat, a high-ranking government engineer, had bought him a car once he had secured admission at an engineering college in Chandigarh. But now, both the vehicles are gathering dust in the beautiful lawns of their house.
Zakir left his family and joined the group led by Burhan on July 17, 2013.
In a letter to his father, he talked about the injustice meted out against Muslims in the valley and outside. He felt jihad was the only solution. However, Zakir's decision has deeply hurt his father. Abdul was more fond of Zakir than his elder son, who is a doctor, and his daughter, a bank executive.
"Despite all the comforts of life, he chose this path," said Abdul Rashid, as tears welled up in his eyes. Neighbours said youngsters in the neighbourhood used to envy Zakir's lifestyle. But now they have become sympathetic.
Zakir often releases small video clips exhorting people to support militants in whatever way they could. He thanked the youth for coming to the rescue of the militants during encounters in one such video. "This you should do only for the sake of Islam," he said. "We are only fighting for the sake of Islam."
Praising the youth for risking their lives during the encounters, he suggested they could help the militants by alerting them through WhatsApp messages and also by keeping an eye on troop movements.
Change of stance
After taking over as the new commander, Zakir said he was doing jihad only for the sake of establishing Islamic rule in Kashmir, seen as a major departure from the traditional Hizbul Mujahideen-stand that calls for integrating Kashmir with Pakistan.
On May 12, while he was still with the Hizbul Mujahideen, Zakir had threatened to behead separatist leaders if they failed to desist changing the nature of Kashmir crisis from a "struggle for Islam to a political one". Notably, it was the first time that a militant commander openly threatened to execute separatist leaders. While the leaders faced criticism in the past from militants, they have never been meted out life threats.
"We will behead the resistance leaders—separatists—ahead of the Kafirs (non-Muslims) in Lal Chowk (Srinagar) if they don't refrain from turning the Kashmir issue into a political fight than a struggle for Islam,” Zakir warned in an audio message.
He added that since their days of infancy, they have heard that azaadi (freedom) means to struggle for Islam. Kashmir's relationship with Pakistan was also for the sake of Islam. “But now we are told Kashmir issue is a political one.”
Not surprisingly, the threat was an unprecedented one for Hurriyat Conference leaders. Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, father of separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Abdul Gani Lone, father of cabinet minister Sajad Gani Lone, both were killed in militant attacks.
A few separatists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, however, appeared unfazed by the threat.
However, Zakir 's threat was rubbished by Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen supreme, who asked him to stay away from issuing such statements. Taken aback for being disowned by the Hizbul top command, Zakir broke away from them and floated his own group sans a name.
On May 29, when Sabzar Ahmed Bhat, who had succeeded Zakir in Hizbul, was killed along with another militant in Tral, his funeral was attended by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik, in an attempt to send Zakir a message.
After breaking ranks with Hizbul, sources said Zakir's influence is increasing as more people are being attracted to his idealogy. “But it is not significant as yet,” said a source aware of the developments. “Hizbul and Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to be the dominant groups in Kashmir.”
Meanwhile, Zakir is yet to react to his being named as the Kashmir chief of the purported Al Qaeda affiliate, who declared him as their Amir in Kashmir.
Indigenous struggle
But the United Jihad Council (UJC), the umbrella group of over a dozen Kashmiri militant outfits based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, distanced itself from the outfit and emphasised their struggle was limited to Kashmir.
“There is neither any place nor any requirement for any global militant outfits, be it Islamic State, Al Qaeda or any other organisation,'' said UJC chairman Syed Salahuddin in a video message. “We have reports that outfits like Islamic State are being introduced by India to counter the militants and unleash a bloodbath in Kashmir.”
Salahuddin, who was recently de-designated as a global terrorist by the US, said the new outfit was a handiwork of Indian agencies to defame the Kashmir struggle.
Many separatists and observers also share similar views. Linking Zakir with an Al Qaeda unit is an attempt to malign the separatist movement in Kashmir, they say. "Once the movement is linked with Al Qaeda or ISIS, all kinds of crackdown and atrocities will be justified by the state,'' said an senior journalist.
Separatists Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik, who have formed the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), said the ongoing movement in Kashmir was indigenous and has no global agenda.
“The agencies are desperate to malign our movement and, under a well-thought-out plan, devising policies to bring a bad name to the freedom struggle in Kashmir,” a JRL statement said.“Groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda are non-existent in J&K and there is no role for these groups within our movement which is local in nature and indigenous in character.”
Meanwhile, DGP Kashmir said that the media reports on Al-Qaeda's Kashmir unit would be investigated. “A militant is a militant, whichever outfit he belongs to. Anybody who picks up a gun is a militant to us,” he said.
