Tension grips Kashmir after killing of terrorist commander Zakir Musa

Tension has gripped Kashmir after security forces on Thursday evening killed Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Musa, founder and chief of Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind (AGH), in an encounter at Dadsara, Tral, in Pulwama in south Kashmir.

Musa had allied his group with Al Qaeda after breaking camp with the Hizbul Mujahideen following the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8, 2016.

Fearing violence, authorities in Kashmir announced the closure of educational institutions and mobilised security forces as a precautionary measure.

After floating the Ansar-Ghazwat-Ul-Hind, Musa, who had been tipped to replace Burhan following his killing, had announced he was not fighting for merging Kashmir with Pakistan, but for establishment of a Caliphate. The Hizbul Mujahideen, however, opposed his views on militancy in Kashmir.

Zakir Musa had played an important role in reviving militancy in Kashmir with Burhan after joining the Hizbul Mujahideen in 2013.

Musa had also threatened Hurriyat Conference leaders for being a hurdle in the creation of a Caliphate in Kashmir.

Hailing from a well-off family of Noorpora at Tral, his father, Abdul Rashid Bhat, is a retired assistant executive engineer while his brother, Sakir Rashid Bhat, is an orthopaedic surgeon and sister a banker.

Musa had quit an engineering course from Ram Dev Jindal college in Chandigarh and returned home to join the militancy.

Musa's killing happened on a day when the BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won the Lok Sabha election for the second time in a row with a thumping majority.

The day also saw PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti suffering her first election defeat since she joined politics in 1996.

Mehbooba,a former chief minister, was in third place in Anantnag, considered a bastion of the PDP. NC's Hasnain Masoodi, a first-timer, won the election, defeating his nearest rival, G.A. Mir of Congress, by over 6,000 votes.