Hizbul Mujahideen distances itself from Zakir Musa’s threat to Hurriyat leaders

The Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen on Saturday distanced itself from the statement of its commander Zakir Musa against the separatist leadership of Hurriyat Party, signalling a rift in the militant outfit which has been fighting for Jammu and Kashmir’s annexation to Pakistan since 1989.

“The outfit has neither got anything to do with the statement of Moosa nor the statement is acceptable to it,” Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Saleem Hashmi said in a statement from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Terming Musa’s remarks in an audio slideshow that surfaced in Kashmir’s social media as his “personal opinion”, Hashmi cautioned that any statement or step which will create confusion “can prove a death knell for our struggle”.

On Friday, a video had gone viral on social media which had a slide show of messages and quotes by international terrorists and philosophers with an audio message by Zakir Musa. In the message, Musa clearly states that the political struggle of Kashmir is not the same as Islamic struggle. He even threatened Hurriyat leaders that if they termed their struggle ‘political’ Hizbul will chop their heads off and hang them in the middle of Lal Chowk in Srinagar.

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