Militant Infighting Becomes Cause of Worry for Kashmiris?

The recent infighting between militant groups, which resulted in the killing of a local militant, Adil Dass, has revealed the contradictions within the rebel movement in Kashmir. Dass was earlier with the Lashkar-e-Toiba but later switched over to a Islamic State-affiliated group. The dichotomy between self-determination and an appeal to Islamic orientation of the struggle is not something new. It was latent but is now manifesting in the form of physical clashes between the groups professing respective ideologies.

As per reports, Dass was invited for leading prayers in Sirhama village of Bijbehere, Anantnag district, after which he was attacked.

After the incident, a video was released by the Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), which said, “When he finished the prayer they fired a volley of bullets on him. We will not leave these murtadas (apostates).” The ISJK faction believes that Hurriyat and Hizbul Mujahideen groups are apostates fed by Pakistan.

In 2017, when Zakir Musa rebelled against the largest militant outfit in the valley, Hizbul Mujahideen, to join Ansar ul Gazwat ul Hind (AGH), it was not simply over the rift within HM but over the crucial shift in the ideology. He became the head of AGH, an Al-Qaeda affiliate and coined a slogan “Shariat ya Sahadat” (Islamic rule or Martyrdom). Even as Musa was able to attract 12 recruits, his ideology had sparked a new imagination. After joining the new outfit, an audio clip of Musa was released on social media, where he explicitly bashed Hurriyat and HM.

In his audio, he said, “If Hurriyat has to run its politics it shouldn’t be a thorn in our way, otherwise we will chop their heads off. If you will be a thorn in our way, we will leave the infidels and kill you first. They (Hurriyat) are indulging in politics. The Mujahideen’s war is only to enforce Shariah. It is an Islamic struggle. The people need not be confused.”

In simple terms, ISIS or Zakir Musa’s faction have been trying to galvanize Kashmiris to call for a “global caliphate,” hence rejecting Hurriyat’s and HM’s self-determination stance and reliance on Pakistan.

However, Musa was not the first one. The oldest surviving militant commander Abdul Qayoom Najar had also questioned the model of HM, Jamaat-e-Islami and Hurriyat for being bidders of Pakistan. A Kashmiri professor, requesting anonymity, said, “Najar had also questioned JeI and Hurriyat for exploiting the movement by politicising the issue over the dead bodies of poor militants. Meanwhile, ISIS militant faction has called upon Hurriyat and militant groups to stop bidding for Pakistan since ISIS believes in a global caliphate and not in any nation state and that Pakistan itself follows an ‘unislamic’ system. The now dead militants like Mugees and Isa Fazili of Srinagar also subscribed to this ideology.”

Najar and his associates were accused for killing Hurriyat members in Sopore in 2015. Najar was heading Lashkar-e-Islam after abandoning HM over “ideological differences”, before he was killed by the security forces in 2017.

No takers of Islamic caliphate

In what was seen as unprecedented turn of events, the militant infighting has ignited a new debate in Kashmir. From quaint cafes to social media, the narrative of Islamic caliphate is not well received by Kashmiris, who have openly dismissed the narrative of IS and have asserted their fight for the right to self-determination. But the infighting between militant groups have brought to the fore the fissures in the movement for “Azaadi”.

A resident of Srinagar speaking to NewsClick said, “Kashmiris have given their lives for the right to self-determination. Such groups are just distractions and are aimed at undermining our struggle. I don’t endorse the ideology of such groups and I believe that almost no one in Kashmir would promote such a thing.”

Journalist Jalil Rathor told NewsClick, “It’s a fight for independence, and has never been a pan–Islamic movement. This whole struggle of Kashmir is for Kashmiri nationalism. And what is significant is that Kashmiris are openly speaking against anything which identifies with the idea of Pan-Islamism. Although, Kashmiris are religious but ideologies like that of Al-Qaeda and ISIS are being rejected openly. Kashmiris don’t fear to raise their voice against it.”

The infighting has also triggered anxieties among Kashmiris who believe that this tug of war between the militant groups has given another opportunity to the Indian state to exercise aggressive muscular approach.

“Infighting will be a boost for the state in the context of operations against militancy,” Rathor said.

The views expressed by the author are personal.