“Fond of I-Phones and Racer Bikes”- Who was Zakir MusaMay 24
The news of Zakir Musa being killed in an encounter spread like wildfire in the Kashmir valley prompting thousands of young men and women to come out on the streets, triggering clashes in various parts of the Kashmir valley.
Zakir Rashid Bhat, alias Musa had joined Militant outfit Hizb ul Mujahideen after snatching weapon from a Government Force personnel in Awantipora along with one of his close friend, however the matter regarding his joining is highly dubious, but Sources revealed to The Kashmiriyat that Zakir was recruited by Burhan Wani himself.
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Zakir Rashid Bhat was born in Noorpora, Tral in South Kashmir. His father is Abdul Rashid Bhat, a senior engineer working with the state government, He continued his studies at Noor Public School up to Class 10. He then went to the government higher secondary institution at Noorpora and passed his 12th in 2011.
He joined an engineering course in Chandigarh, however, He left Ram Devi Jindal Group of Professional Institutions, Chandigarh, in 2013 and joined the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in the autumn of 2013 at the behest of his close friend, Idrees.
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In 2017, Zakir quit the group after it refused to back his statements supporting his argument that the struggle was for Islam and not political, though the reasons vary to many, Zakir’s statement evoked sharp criticism.
After remaining untraced for nearly a year, the Forces including 42 Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army, Jammu Kashmir Police’s SOG and CRPF raided a cluster of houses in Dadasara area of Tral in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, within minutes it was told that Zakir Musa had been killed, however what is easily understandable is that it was a deliberate move to keep the protesters away from the site of the encounter.
The encounter that raged around 7:18 PM just 12 minutes ahead of the time when Zakir Musa and Muslims around the valley would open their fast. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, Sources said that Zakir could not even open his fast.
The Forces inched closer, however Zakir Musa kept firing at the forces, disallowing them to move ahead for nearly nine hours, as per eyewitnesses. As the encounter entered the tenth hour, the forces started firing mortar shells and UBGLs at the house, the house caught fire and the firing stopped.
Half an hour, after the firing stopped, the forces started search operations using locals of the area as a human shield. “They used locals to search the house in which Zakir Musa was trapped, however Zakir’s body was not found there,” a Local told The Kashmiriyat. When the forces could not find Zakir Musa’s body, the forces started withdrawing from the site of the encounter site.
“They had probably assumed that Zakir had escaped from the site of the cnounter after conducting intensive searches at the site of the encounter.”
As the forces were withdrawing, the slogans of Musa Musa, Zakir Musa reverberated near the site of the encounter, it was probably the local Policemen who shouted these slogans, prompting Zakir Musa to come out of his hiding. “He must have perceived it was the local youth who tried to rescue him.” As soon as he heard the slogans, he jumped out of the house and the Forces fired a volley of bullets at him.
Locals also claimed that Zakir would have been alive, had he not been deceived with the slogans which prompted him to come out of the site of the encounter, Zakir Rashid Bhat whose name had appeared in three consecutive lists of Most Wanted Militants was an A++ Category Militant, with 12.5 Lakh reward money on his head.
According to the police records, Zakir had a long history of crime records since 2013, said the spokesman. “He was associated with proscribed Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH). He was wanted by law for his complicity in a series of crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities.”
The Police said that he was involved in case FIR No 126/2014 pertaining to the grenade
attacks, abduction and killing of a civilians, inciting youth for terrorist activities, snatching of weapons from security forces, arson act on Govt Higher Secondary School Dadsara, anti-National activities, raising of funds for militant activities.
They said that he was declared as pro-claimed offender by NIA special court Mohali Punjab on 2nd May, 2019 in NIA case. (The Kashmiriyat)