<p>Strike and curfew continued in Kashmir for the second consecutive day in Kashmir on Saturday following the killing of most wanted militant commander Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of an Al-Qaeda affiliated group.</p>.<p>Musa, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral area of south Kashmir on Thursday, was the second most popular militant commander in the Valley after Burhan Wani.</p>.<p>The Valley has been on edge with separatists calling for shutdown and authorities imposing curfew-like restrictions. Due to strike and restrictions, normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir with shops, business establishments, educational institutions and market-places remaining closed across the Valley and public transport off the roads.</p>.<p>Since 2017, Musa’s name had been sprayed on walls and shutters across the Valley with young men chanting “Musa, Musa” during anti-India protests. His face and voice are familiar from videos and audio clips circulated on social media, and from news reports.</p>.<p>The police on Friday termed his killing as a “major success.” “In a major success against militancy in South Kashmir security forces eliminated Zakir Musa; only surviving militant of erstwhile Burhan group.”</p>.<p>A police spokesman said that Musa was declared as a proclaimed offender by an NIA special court in a case that “pertains to his involvement in serial blasts at Jalandhar, Punjab, on September 14, 2018.”</p>.<p>After parting ways with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in 2017, Musa had floated ‘Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind’, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group. He had joined Burhan Wani group in 2013. But in May 2017, nearly a year after Wani’s killing, Musa released an audio message that caused a stir in the Valley. </p>.<p>Separatist leaders who called Kashmir’s war a political struggle instead of a religious one would be beheaded, he warned in an audio message. “I will not fight for Azadi for a secular state,” he declared. “I will fight for Azadi for Islam, for the establishment of an Islamic state. Not only in Kashmir but in India and Pakistan too.”</p>
<p>Strike and curfew continued in Kashmir for the second consecutive day in Kashmir on Saturday following the killing of most wanted militant commander Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of an Al-Qaeda affiliated group.</p>.<p>Musa, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral area of south Kashmir on Thursday, was the second most popular militant commander in the Valley after Burhan Wani.</p>.<p>The Valley has been on edge with separatists calling for shutdown and authorities imposing curfew-like restrictions. Due to strike and restrictions, normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir with shops, business establishments, educational institutions and market-places remaining closed across the Valley and public transport off the roads.</p>.<p>Since 2017, Musa’s name had been sprayed on walls and shutters across the Valley with young men chanting “Musa, Musa” during anti-India protests. His face and voice are familiar from videos and audio clips circulated on social media, and from news reports.</p>.<p>The police on Friday termed his killing as a “major success.” “In a major success against militancy in South Kashmir security forces eliminated Zakir Musa; only surviving militant of erstwhile Burhan group.”</p>.<p>A police spokesman said that Musa was declared as a proclaimed offender by an NIA special court in a case that “pertains to his involvement in serial blasts at Jalandhar, Punjab, on September 14, 2018.”</p>.<p>After parting ways with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in 2017, Musa had floated ‘Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind’, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group. He had joined Burhan Wani group in 2013. But in May 2017, nearly a year after Wani’s killing, Musa released an audio message that caused a stir in the Valley. </p>.<p>Separatist leaders who called Kashmir’s war a political struggle instead of a religious one would be beheaded, he warned in an audio message. “I will not fight for Azadi for a secular state,” he declared. “I will fight for Azadi for Islam, for the establishment of an Islamic state. Not only in Kashmir but in India and Pakistan too.”</p>
