Hizbul Mujahideen names its new Kashmir commander

As protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani continued in the valley, the outfit on Tuesday named its new chief of Kashmir under the nom de guerre of Mehmood Ghaznavi.

The HM in a statement released to local media, named Ghaznavi as the new Kashmir Commander while paying tributes to Burhani Wani who was killed during an encounter with Indian Armed forces and Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday last week.

Even as security agencies said Mehmood Ghaznavi was a nom de guerre given to one of the remaining HM leaders, highly-placed sources said that the chosen terrorist commander was likely to be 21-year-old Zakir Rashid Bhat, who was engineering student in a Chandigarh college before becoming a militant.

While the other probables to take the role of Hizb's commander were Saddam Padder and Sabzar Ahmed, officials sources said that based on intelligence inputs Zakir had a greater chances of donning the role of HM's commander owing to his low profile.

"Most of the HM members have been killed in various operations leaving behind a few. Among the probables are Sadam, Sabzar and Zakir who were previously working under Burhan Wani. Based on our inputs Zakir has been given code name Mehmood Ghaznavi and it likely he will be heading the group now," said a senior security official. Another intelligence officer seemed to be confident and said that it was in Zakir who was given the role of the HM commander. "Zakir maintained a low profile as compared to Burhani Wani. It is possible that the Hizbul Mujahideen wants person who has not been in much limelight," the officer told dna.

Twenty-one-old Zakir, was pursuing a degree in civil engineering from a college in Chandigarh when he decided to join militant ranks in year 2013. Zakir, whose father is a government employee in Kashmir, had come for a brief vacation to his home in South Kashmir's Pulwama district the same year in July. After staying with his family for some days, the 21-year-old left behind a letter addressing his parents where in he stated that he was going to join the Jehad to deal with the atrocities faced by Kashmiri people. Zakir had further mentioned the 'atrocities faced by Kashmiri students' outside the valley.

According to officials, Zakir had previously participated in civilian protests that had taken place in South Kashmir in 2010. The protests had erupted after Tufail Ahmad Mattoo a 17-year-old student was killed after being hit in the head by a tear gas shell. The 21-year-old had gone to Chandigarh for pursing his B Tech.

On Tuesday Sayeed Salahudeen, the Pakistan-based chief of HM, released a statement to local media paying tributes to Burhan Wani and those 'martyred' during an anti-Maharaja protest on July 13, 1931 and others killed in protests following the killing of Wani. Salahudeen then went on to declare the new commander as Mehmood Ghaznavi, a name taken after Ghaznavid Empire ruler Mehmood Ghazni who was infamous in India for his invasions.