Tension in J&K after security forces kill Zakir Musa

Zakir Musa (25), a top terrorist commander in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in an encounter with security forces in a village in South Kashmir's Tral on Thursday. Musa's real name is Zakir Rashid Bhat and it is alleged that he was heading Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind outfit, a local affiliate of terror group Al Qaeda, after quitting the Hizbul Mujahedeen in May 2017. Protests and clashes were reported on Friday in many parts of J&K after Musa's killing. 

Sources said that Zakir had declared that his outfit had affliction with Al Qaeda. “Security forces assumed that Zakir had affiliation with Al Qaeda and were concerned over the arrival Al Qaeda foothold in India,” said a top IB officer. He explained that once Al Qaeda announces successor of Musa, it will be clear whether Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind has any affiliation to Al Qaeda. 

Zakir wanted to draw global attention to J&K terrorism. “A few youths got attracted initially with name of Al Qaeda associated with it but later on he failed to propagate his ideology to attract youth to his outfit,” the officer said. 

Zakir studied civil engineering at a college in Chandigarh, before joining terrorist outfit in July 2013. He was considered close to Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahedeen commander. Wani was killed by the security forces in 2016. But later Zakir broke away from Hizbul Mujahedeen and formed his own outfit.

In December 2018, the outfit suffered a huge blow after six of its group members were killed in an operation in Pulwama district.