Thousands attend Musa’s funeral prayers
Srinagar: Thousands of people on Friday participated in the multiple rounds of funeral prayers of Zakir Musa, Kashmir’s most wanted militant commander, who headed the Al Qaeda affiliate Ansar Gazwatul Hind.
Reports said that thousands of people from various parts of Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian districts and other places of the Valley reached Noorpora despite curfew and rains to participate in the last rites of Musa who was killed during an encounter.
Musa had escaped from the house where he was initially trapped but was killed this morning in a fresh gunfight in an orchard in Dadsara village of Tral area.
Army along with paramilitary forces and police had started a cordon and search operation last evening following information about the presence of militants there.
An official said Musa was asked to surrender but “instead he hurled grenades and started firing, which was retaliated, triggering off an encounter.”
He said more government forces were rushed to the area to prevent him from escaping under the cover of darkness. The house in which Musa was reportedly trapped was razed to rubble but he had managed to escape even as an AK-rifle and a rocket was recovered. He was trapped in a nearby orchard and was killed after a brief gunfight on Friday morning, the official added.
The authorities have imposed curfew restrictions in major towns across Valley including Pulwama, Awantipora, Srinagar, Anantnag and Budgam as a precautionary measure.
Internet was also snapped across the Valley as a precautionary measure, the officials said. All educational institutions including Universities, schools and colleges have also been closed across the Valley to prevent student protests.
Last night when reports about the killing of Zakir Musa started doing rounds, various parts of Valley including Srinagar, Trehgam in Kupwara and Sopora areas witnessed protests. Students of the University of Kashmir also gathered outside Zakoora campus to protest against the killing.
In Rahmoo, Rajpora, Kakapora, Malangpora villages of Pulwama district, pro-freedom Taranas were played from mosque loudspeakers.
Protests also erupted in Okay, Yaripora and Shouch areas of Kulgam district, Trenz and Imam Shab areas of Shopian district.
Protests were also reported from Soaf-Shali area of Kokernag, Khanabal and Seer Hamdan.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that Zakir had a long history of militant crime records since 2013. He was initially associated with the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit then he floated a new militant outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH).
“He was wanted by law for his complicity in a series of militant crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities,” the spokesman said.
“As per police records Zakir was involved in planning and executing a series of attacks in the area and many other civilian atrocities. Several cases were registered against him. He was involved in case FIR No 126/2014 pertaining to the grenade attack on CISF at Noorpora Check, Case FIR No 135/2014 pertaining to abduction and killing of a civilian Firdous Ahmad Hurrah of Dusoo Pulwama, Case FIR No. 24/2015 pertaining to inciting youth for militant activities, Case FIR No. 39/2016 pertaining to killing of a civilian lady Hameed Bano of Noorpora, Case FIR No. 190/2016 pertaining to snatching of weapons from security forces, Case FIR No. 165/2016 pertaining to arson act on Govt Higher Secondary School Dadsara, Case FIR No. 170/2016 pertaining to anti-National activities, Case FIR No. 80/2017 pertaining to other militant activities, Case FIR No. 139/2017 pertaining to bank dacoity at J&K Bank Noorpora, Case FIR No. 50/2018 pertaining to raising of funds for terrorist activities. Besides, several other cases were registered against him pertaining to militant attacks and civilian atrocities in the area,” the spokesman said.
Further, He was declared as a pro-claimed offender by NIA special court Mohali Punjab on 2nd May 2019 in NIA case RC-39/2018/NIA/DLI. The said case pertains to his involvement in serial blasts at Jalandhar Punjab on 14th September 2018 for which case FIR No. 163/2018 was registered at Police Station Maqsudan Jalandhar. The investigation of the said case was later taken by NIA, the spokesman said.
Born in an affluent family of Noorpora village in volatile Tral region of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, succeeded Burhan Muzzafar Wani as the divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir soon after he was killed in an encounter on July 8, 2016.
Zakir, who was in his mid-twenties, joined militant ranks after quitting engineering studies at a Chandigarh college in 2013. He joined the Burhan Wani’s core group of militants based in Tral. Zakir grew very close to his predecessor and hit headlines first time in 2015 after his picture along with another militant Lateef Tiger went viral on social media. The picture, in which Zakir and Lateef were in casuals, was clicked somewhere in Srinagar, sending the security establishment into the tizzy that time.
Days after Burhan Wani’s killing, Musa issued a maiden video statement, calling on people to continue the agitation and described Kashmir’s movement as the movement for Islam. In several other videos, he was seen giving arms training to the new recruits inside a residential house at an undisclosed location.
However, Zakir Musa shot to prominence in May 2017 after he termed the Kashmir movement as a struggle for the establishment of Islam and not for nationalism or secularism. He threatened to behead Hurriyat leaders and hang their heads in Lal Chowk “if they come out in his way of establishing Shariah”.
The threat did not go well with Hizbul Mujahideen leadership based in Pakistan who termed his remakes as well as Musa’s call for Islamic struggle as his personal views. Musa was quick to hit back and announced his exit from Hizb.
Days later, he formed his own outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, which is believed to be linked to Al Qaida in the Indian subcontinent, and reiterated his pan-Islamist stand. Musa entered into a bitter war of words with the militant leadership based in Pakistan over his Islamist stand.
Around a dozen members of Hizb and LeT defected to Musa’s group and announced their support to his cause. Notable among them was Abu Dujana, the successor of top Lashkar commander Abu Qasim, who was killed in 2015 and Abu Hamas, a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. Both the commanders were residents of Pakistan and their support to Musa gave his organization a big boost.
The first major blow to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind came when Abu Dujana and his aide Arif Lelhari died in a gunfight at Hakripora in Kakapora area of Pulwama district. After several weeks, four of his aides were killed in a brief encounter in Tral. Till this date, more than a dozen members of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind have died including its deputy chief Rehan Khan. Before the formation of the group, four aides of Zakir were killed in an encounter in Kakapora.
After quitting Hizb, Zakir remained elusive but his group released many of his audio messages wherein he targeted both India and Pakistan. He was critical of Pakistani establishment as well as leaders of UJC over their handling of armed struggle in Kashmir. Zakir did not regard Pakistan as an Islamic State and condemned its rulers and army as apostates for allying with U.S against Al Qaeda and Taliban.
While Zakir Musa was severely criticized by the UJC and joint resistance leadership or the JRL, he became highly popular among youths in Kashmir with his slogans being raised even in the protests on civic issues.
He featured in top 12 “most wanted” militant list of the army and managed to dodge forces on several occasions in 6 years. While his group couldn’t carry out any major attack in Kashmir, it, however, was involved in a few attacks in Punjab.
With the killing of Zakir, who is the top-most militant commander to die since 2017, the cadre strength of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind has now reduced to three, according to top security sources. (with inputs from GNS)
KV News
