Zakir Rashid Bhat

Zakir Rashid Bhat (also known as Zakir Musa) is a former Hizbul Mujahideen commander; slain Burhan Wani's successor and founder and chief of Al-Qaeda cell Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.^[1]

Musa joined the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in 2013.^[2] In July 2017, the Global Islamic Media Front claimed that Zakir Musa had been named the head of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a newly created cell of Al-Qaeda.^[3][4][5] He is a former commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a position previously held by Burhan Muzaffar Wani, until his death during an encounter with Indian security forces. Discontent over Wani's death led to the 2016 Kashmir Unrest.^[6][4] He later threatened to behead the Hurriyat leaders for calling the Kashmir conflict a political one instead of a religious one to establish Islamic rule. He also warned them not to become a "thorn" in the imposition of Shariah. Hizbul Mujahideen disassociated itself from the statement a day after his threatening message. Musa, in response, quit the organization.^[7]

Early life

Zakir Rashid Bhat was born in Noorpora, Tral in South Kashmir. His father is Abdul Rashid Bhat, a senior engineer working with the state government.

Musa was admitted to class 9 at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Pulwama in 2008; he continued his studies at Noor Public School up to Class 10. He then went to the government higher secondary institution at Noorpora and passed his 12^th in 2011.

He left CU, Chandigarh, in 2013, after failing his exams. He joined the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in the autumn of 2013 at the behest of his close friend, Idrees.^[8][4]

Hizbul Mujahideen

The Hizbul Mujahideen had earlier named Mehmood Ghaznavi as Wani’s successor, but that is possibly an alias of Bhat.^[9] He issued his first video in Kashmir in August 2016.^{[10][11][12][13]} He is sometimes described as "part of a new generation of tech-savvy, well-educated militants" who became involved in the conflict after the 2010 Kashmir unrest.^[14] He quit the group after it refused to back his statements supporting his argument that the struggle was for Islam and not political.^[15]

Following the elimination of Sabzar Bhat in Tral, intercepted communications by Hizbul Mujahideen suggested that many militants believed Sabzar Bhat had been betrayed by Musa.^[16][17]

Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind

Musa was announced as the head of the newly created organization and Al-Qaeda cell in Jammu and Kashmir called Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind by Al-Qaeda affiliated Global Islamic Media Front on 27 July 2017.^[4] After the killing of militant commander Abu Dujana and Arif Lelhari, a statement purported to be from Musa was released. The statement claimed that Dujana and Lelhari had joined Al-Qaeda and helped set it up. Officials stated that the voice of the message matched those of the earlier audio clips by Musa, though the state's DGP S.P. Vaid stated there was no way of authenticating the clips even though there were reports that Dujana and Musa were close at the time. Meanwhile, an audio-clip circulated on media claimed to be the last message from Dujana and Arif during their encounter. Two voices claim allegiance to Al-Qaeda, however, no gunfire is heard and the authenticity of the clip wasn't claimed.^[18]

It was reported on 12 August 2017 that Musa and his aide evaded an anti-terror operation with the locals, pelting security forces with stones in Noorpora village of Tral.^[19] In an audio message released on August 31 2017, Musa attacked Pakistan for "betraying Kashmir jihad." He also stated that the objective of Al-Qaeda's Kashmir cell was to clear it from the Pakistan government, army and their sponsored agents. He also threatened to "liberate India" from the Hindus.^[20] Hizbul put up posters in Sopore in September 2017, which held him responsible for helping Indian security forces kill Kashmiris, asking people to chase him to death and calling him an "Indian agent." ^[5]

References

External links

• From engineering dropout to militant; The Times of India, 14 May 2017.