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Was Kashmir’s Burhan Wani an al-Qaeda operative?
[KASHMIRDISPATCH] Three days after the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was slain in a brief encounter with the Indian troops, the al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent asked Kashmiri people to follow his example. It is probably the first time al-Qaeda has owned any Kashmiri militant fighting in the valley.Is it just a ploy from al-Qaeda to show its presence in the valley? But what would they get for playing such a ruse? Was then Burhan Wani an al-Qaeda operative? To understand that, one has to see his modus operandi. Since he started broadcasting his message on social media, it was clear that a highly intelligent and sophisticated mind is at work. But was he the mind or just a face to propagate a particular message? Burhan joined the armed resistance movement at the age of 16 in 2010. After his militant cousin Aadil Mir was killed in an encounter, Burhan came to the forefront on social networking sites. From 2015 onwards, Burhan became the face of the resistance movement in Kashmir. Despite probably never travelling outside his town, Burhan’s video messages were profound! He was associated with Hizb ul Mujahideen that believes merger with Pakistan. A few years ago, majority of Hizb militants came from Jamaat-e-Islami background. Importantly, in his video messages, Burhan never mentioned any mendicant All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader. He, in fact, surprised Kashmiris when in his penultimate message he urged the people of Kashmir to fight for the establishment of Khilifat. He also said in the same video that they are capable of harassing the families of the policemen like they do to their families but cited Sharia laws not allowing it! It was certainly a tectonic shift. Neither Hizb nor Jamaat-e-Islami has ever talked of establishing Khilifat in Kashmir. Their Khilifat started and ended with the merger of Pakistan. Then how come a mere 22-year-old youth, who has never been out of Kashmir, thought of fighting for establishing a Khilifat? To understand that one has to look at the US occupation of Afghanistan and the subsequent turmoil in Pakistan. It is no secret that the US is primarily fighting against al-Qaeda to “smoke them out”. Since al-Qaeda believes in establishing Khilifat for Muslims, Kashmir has come under its radar. In 2008, the USA designated Af-Pak Kashmir policy, which meant all the three areas are cobbled together as a single theatre of operations. But the Indian state forced the US to withdraw Kashmir from its policy. Burhan’s Killing A non-issue has been turned into the subject of debate. Burhan, once he joined the militant ranks, knew he would be killed. It didn’t matter to him how he would be killed. What mattered was the martyrdom. He attained that. The theories circulating about his death take the focus away from the cause he sacrificed his life for. Since Burhan talked of Khilifat in his penultimate video message, it may have irked the Pakistani intelligence agencies. Together with their counterparts in India, they may have been thinking that the Kashmir movement is slipping away from them. For India, Pakistani state is the best option to deal with rather than with an enemy that believes in reconquering it, and wave the flag of Islam there. The Indian state cannot negotiate with an organisation as elusive and indefatigable as al-Qaeda. For Pakistan, Kashmir is a place through which they control a large section of religious extremist groups. So both India and Pakistan may have already joined forces to stop the march of al-Qaeda in Kashmir. It was no surprise that the media in both countries ignored AQIS extolling Burhan. Ideally, the Indian state should have raked this issue to “defame” the Kashmiri movement. Posted by: Fred 2016-08-10 |
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