KNZ NEWS DESK
Srinagar, August 5 : Islamist militant commander Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, who was recently named as head of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind by Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), has claimed in a audio visual message that slain Abu Dujana, who was known was Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief commander and his aide, Arif Lelhari were affiliated to his outfit and are its “first martyrs”.
In a 3:39 audio visual message posted on social networking sites by Al Hurr – the media arm of Ansar, Zakir paid glowing tributes to both Dujana and Arif, who were gunned down on August 1 at Hakripora village of Pulwama district, saying the duo played “an important role” in formation of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, which is believed to be an Al Qaeda affiliate group.
“Abu Dujana and Arif were those two associates who after spotting righteous flag decided to ally with it. They played an important role in formation of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind and they had an honour to be among first martyrs of this Jihadi movement,” said Zakir, who succeeded Burhan Wani last year as Hizbul Mujahideen commander but disassociated himself from the outfit after developing serious ideological differences with its leadership.
The rift occurred after Zakir termed the Kashmir movement as an Islamist movement and threatened to chop off heads of Hurriyat leaders “if they become hurdle in implementation of Shariah”. He also threatened resistance leadership for calling Kashmir a political issue. However his former outfit rejected his comments, saying “it is Zakir’s personal view”.
On Friday, a purported phone recording of Dujana and Arif surfaced online wherein the duo reiterate their allegiance to Zakir. In the audio, Arif purportedly says that flags of Pakistan shouldn’t be waved on his funeral and instead “flag of Tawheed” should be waved. He also repeatedly states that “we are with Al Qaeda”. Pertinently, Lashkar-e-Toiba did not issue any obituary statement for Dujana and Arif.
Praising the slain duo, the Islamist commander Zakir Musa said “both brothers stood like wall, together and were always for each other’s defence”. Training guns at militant leaders in Pakistan, Musa alleged: “When Dujana joined us after identifying truth, the so-called godfathers of Jihad based in Pakistan created lots of difficulties for him. Arif…was also subjected to unprecedented difficulties after he joined us.”
“But both of them were men of freedom and fought for Tawheed until their last breath; whether that be against Indian infidels or hypocrites,” he said.
He said “those who were calling Dujana and Arif agents till yesterday are now paying them tributes”. “They don’t even feel ashamed,” he rued. The Ansar chief said that “both of these brothers were among very few righteous individuals of the world who came out from the net of godfathers of infidelity and hypocrisy and allied with the flag of Tawheed and fulfilled their promise with Allah”.
In the beginning of the audio visual message, Zakir and Dujana are seen together in several frames. “May Allah help us in taking forward in their (Dujana and Arif) mission,” the engineering college dropout-turned Islamist militant commander added. (GNS)
