Table of Contents
THE CASE OF ZAKIR MUSA
- Indian security forces have killed an influential Kashmiri militant who led the first al-Qaida-affiliated cell in Kashmir
- Zakir Musa, 25, was part of a new generation of young militants with large followings on social media and more affinity with global jihadist groups such as alQaida than with Pakistan, the traditional patron of antiIndia fighters in the region.
ZAKIR MUSA
- Over the last couple of years, Musa’s name has been sprayed on walls and shutters across the Kashmir Valley.
- Young men chant “Musa, Musa” during protests and India-Pakistan cricket matches. His face and voice are familiar from videos and audio clips circulated on social media, and from news reports.
FROM ENGINEERING TO MILITANCY
- Still, Zakir managed to finish school and join an engineering college in Chandigarh. The family said he had chosen engineering so that he could start his own construction company.
- Then something changed and he joined Kashmiri militancy at the age of 19
MUSA’S IDEOLOGY
- In May 2017, nearly a year after Wani’s killing, Musa released an audio message that caused a stir in the Valley. Separatist leaders of the Hurriyat who called Kashmir’s war a political struggle instead of a religious one would be beheaded, he warned in the message. “I will not fight for Azadi for a secular state,” he declared. “I will fight for Azadi for Islam, for the establishment of an Islamic state. Not only in Kashmir but in India and Pakistan too.”
ANSAR GHAZWAT-UL-HIND
- A militant organization and Al-Qaeda cell in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
OPEN REBELLION AGAINST HURRIYAT
- “I am warning them (Hurriyat leaders) not to play their politics. If they again try to become thorns in our path, the first thing we will do is behead you and hang you in Lal Chowk. We will leave the infidels and kill you first,” Musa warns in the video, in an open rebellion against Hurriyat leaders.
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