Hizbul Mujahideen projects Zakir Rashid Bhat as militant Burhan Wani’s successor in Kashmir

Zakir Rashid Bhat, a former engineering student, has been projected as Burhan Wani's successor by terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahedin.

Bhat has posted a message on YouTube asking people in the valley to make the ongoing stir successful. He is also seen urging youths to stay away from police recruitments.

22-year-old frontline militant Bhat, a former engineering student, also asks the people to maintain unity and remain cautious of “vested interests” who, he says, are against the ongoing “freedom movement” and “want to create a wedge”.

The 8-minute video was widely circulated through mobile messaging service WhatsApp. Official sources said that the authorities are contemplating to approach the YouTube administrator with a request to scrub out the video.

He says in chaste Urdu, “We all know how the martyrdom of our three brothers has brought movement to a new point. Now we need to support this struggle and take it to its logical conclusion.”

Bhat is a resident of Noorpora, the village in southern Pulwama district’s Tral area which is hardly 10 kilometres from Shariefabad where Wani lived. Bhat’s father is a civil engineer working in a J&K government department.