Week after quitting as Hizbul commander, Zakir Musa floats new militant outfit, announces support to Al-Qaeda

Srinagar: Zakir Musa, who quit as Hizbul Mujahideen commander after the terror outfit strongly condemned his threat to Hurriyat leaders, on Friday announced to float a new militant outfit. 

In a new tape released today, Musa floated the new organisation and professed his support to terror group Al-Qaeda. 

Musa severed ties with the Hizbul Mujahideen last week, hours after the outfit denounced his statement that separatist leaders from the Hurriyat Conference would be beheaded if they became a hurdle in Kashmir’s road to becoming an Islamic state. The militant was apparently ticked off by a May 8 statement by the separatists that the “freedom struggle in Kashmir has nothing to do with ISIS and al-Qaeda”.

The separatist leader also warned Kashmiris against donating money in his name. “Those who demand money are not my men,” he said.

The specter of the previous threat issued by Musa, however, wasn’t completely dispelled. "Even if we do kill a hypocrite, we will release a video owning up to it. This way, no confusion will be created," Musa said in the new clip.

Within 24 hours of releasing his first statement, Musa later released a second audio tape where he announced dissociating himself from the Hizbul outfit , saying that he stood by his views.

Claiming that the 'freedom struggle' was for establishing of an Islamic State, Musa said that if his blood was shed, it would be for establishing a Caliphate rule and not a secular state as suggested by moderate separatists.