In what seems like a preface to another violent and unstable summer in the Kashmir valley, the killing of Zakir Musa, most wanted in the list of the security agencies, has brought life in the valley to a complete standstill, and violent clashes between youths and security forces have been reported at several places. Musa, a close associate of the slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, had quickly gained his constituency of supporters and emerged as the poster boy for new-age militancy.
Amid fear that his killing may provoke a massive civilian unrest, reminiscent of the one witnessed in July 2016, when Burhan was felled, the administration issued orders to all schools and colleges to remain closed today. Mobile Internet services have been suspended and a curfew has been imposed in the region. Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan said the decision to close educational institutions was taken as a precautionary measure.
The shutdown was made complete by a strike call by Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Most of the fuel stations, business establishments and even small kiosks remained shut and public vehicles went off the road. Yesterday, thousands of street protesters roamed across the valley; stone throwing was witnessed at many places.
Twenty-five year old Musa was a former engineering student in Punjab. He took up the gun in 2013 after his family members reportedly suffered humiliation at the hands of the security forces. Having been a part of the Hizbul Mujahideen for a few years, he became the chief of the Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind, a terror outfit modelled after Al Qaeda. Musa shot into the news in May 2017 when he expressed disapproval of the modus operandi of the struggle pioneered by the pro-resistance lobby, calling it “unIslamic”. He threatened to chop off their heads, a statement the Hizbul Mujahideen dismissed publicly, prompting his ouster from the outfit.
Musa was in the Indian agencies’ most wanted list. His encounter was described by the IGP, Kashmir, S.P. Pani as a “major success”. Musa was killed on Thursday evening after the joint forces, working on a special intelligence, trapped him at a residential house in Dadsara, Tral, in South Kashmir. An intense firefight followed and the house was razed in the gun battle.
Musa’s funeral was attended by a sea of supporters, who defied curfew to travel to Tral’s Noorpora, Musa’s home town. The scene revived the memories of the summer of 2016 that had ignited Kashmir’s simmering rage and led to relentless episodes of clashes between protesters and the security forces over the course of the next many months, spurting home grown militancy and steeply increasing civilian deaths.
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