Zakir Musa praises Al-Qaeeda

Says his struggle for establishment of Shariah in Kashmir will continue

After revolting against Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, militant commander Zakir Musa on Monday praised international terror organisation Al-Qaeeda saying that his struggle will continue for the “establishment of the Shariah (Islamic rule) in Kashmir.”

In a new over seven minute audio clip Musa, who quit Hizbul on Saturday after the outfit asked him not to make threatening statements against the sepratists leaders, thanked Al-Qaeda “who have in their Navae Afghan Jihad (Al-Qaeda magazine) concurred with our slogan: Shariah or martyrdom.”

"Our struggle will continue for the establishment of the Shariah in Kashmir,” the militant commander said.
The separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik had last week in a statement said that the ongoing “freedom movement” in Kashmir had nothing to do with ISIS and Al-Qaeeda-like organisations.

Musa, who joined militancy after leaving his BTech course in Chandigarh in 2013, however, said that there was no disagreement between different militant factions in Kashmir and “they will continue to work in tandem”.

Reacting to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and lesser known Kashmiri Taliban offer to join their organisations, he said, “I want to tell them that I won’t be taking orders from people sitting on carpets in Pakistan and working for Taghoot-i-Nizam. Allah is enough for me. I am always against the accession to Taghoot-i-nizam (a reference to Pakistan).”

Musa, in his early 20s, reiterated the threat he issued on Friday to “secular separatist leaders who are fighting for a political cause, not Islamic cause."  "We are not fighting for nationalism Our only slogan is Shariah or martyrdom."

Musa, who had taken over as Hizbul chief after its previous commander, Burhan Wani, was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8, 2016, had stirred up a hornet’s nest on Friday when he threatened to chop off heads of those separatist leaders who claim the Kashmir struggle as political and not Islamic.

Consequently, Hizbul commanders based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir termed his statement as “unacceptable” and termed it as his “personal opinion”.

Following the snub, Musa posted another audio clip where he announced his disassociation from the militant outfit. “If Hizbul Mujahideen doesn’t represent me, then I also don’t represent them. From today onwards, I have no association with Hizbul Mujahideen,” he said in an audio message circulated on social media.