{"id":9912,"date":"2017-06-27T09:26:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T03:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=9912"},"modified":"2017-06-27T09:26:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T03:56:16","slug":"zakir-musas-call-redrawing-militant-alliances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=9912","title":{"rendered":"Zakir Musa\u2019s call redrawing militant alliances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Srinagar:<\/strong> The phone call lasts a little over four minutes and one of the speakers reveals the deep penetration of the radical Islamist appeal among the new-age militants of the Kashmir valley, where a young commander is redrawing the region\u2019s militant alliances. The speaker is a militant named Majid Mir, according to an identity description that has gone widely viral but is not authenticated. Mir was killed on June 21 and was believed to have been associated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba at the time of his death in the gunfight. The other speaker, purportedly, is Zakir Musa, a former engineering student and a former field commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen who is leading a major revolt in the militant movement as he drifted towards a more hardline Islamist cause and disavowed fighting for any nationalist agenda. Musa\u2019s allegiance to radical Islamism has pitched him against the traditional separatists, the old guard militants, and their backer Pakistan. If the call is authentic, it is so far the most telling evidence that Musa\u2019s Islamist messages are drawing cadres from other militant organizations, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba. \u201cWe were earlier with Lashkar, but then we changed the organisation. Now we are with brother Musa,\u201d the speaker believed to be Mir says, as he wills that Pakistan flag should not be waved at his funeral. Musa tutors him that only an Islamic flag should be waved; Mir repeats in affirmation. The waving of flags has become a cornerstone in the ideological battle between new-generation militants, who have revived a strain of low-intensity conflict in south Kashmir, and the old guard of militant commanders who are based in Pakistan and separatists. The redrawing of militant alliances is evident as Lashkar-e-Toiba\u2019s top commander Abu Dujana continues to remain in contact with Musa and apparently they share a cordial relation, according to references made in the last call of militant Mir. Dujana\u2019s parent organisation has been the most bitter opponent of Musa\u2019s Islamist call but the continued contact between the two field commanders, as detailed in the call, suggest that the their equation at ground zero remains cordial. A police officer posted in south Kashmir\u2019s Pulwama district, where Mir was killed during a nightlong firefight, said Mir had made several phone calls during the gunfight. \u201cI am not sure if he talked to Musa, but I heard that Mir had left some message for Zakir Musa,\u201d said SP, Pulwama, Mohammad Aslam. Another senior police officer said it was difficult to conclude the authenticity of the call without sending it for forensic examination and voice sampling. \u201cWe are examining it,\u201d the senior officer said. The police officer said Musa\u2019s messaging had created \u201ceuphoria\u201d among some sections. There are already signs that Musa\u2019s support base is exerting its clout as slogans in favour of the militant commander have been witnessed at all recent militant funerals, as well as in Srinagar\u2019s Jamia Masjid which is the stronghold of a moderate separatist.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Tribune News Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Srinagar: The phone call lasts a little over four minutes and one of the speakers reveals the deep penetration of the radical Islamist appeal among the new-age militants of the Kashmir valley, where a young commander is redrawing the region\u2019s militant alliances. The speaker is a militant named Majid Mir, according to an identity description [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}