Second day in a row, curfew continues in parts of J&K following Zakir Musa’s encounter

News Bharati    25-May-2019
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Srinagar, May 25: With the fierce gunfight encounter between the security forces and militants, the army successfully slayed the so-called chief of an Al-Qaeda afiliated group Zakir Musa. Ever since then, curfew continued in parts of Kashmir for a second day Saturday after the terrorist’s encounter in Pulwama district Friday.

 

The officials said the curbs on the movement of people were in force in parts of Srinagar, and Kulgam and Pulwama towns. Schools and colleges remained shut, while mobile internet continued to be suspended across the valley. The trains on the Baramulla-Banihal line remained off the tracks due to the situation, the officials said.

In Srinagar, the officials said, "strict restrictions" were in place in Nowhatta, Rainawari, Khanyar, Safakadal and M R Gung police station areas, while "partial restrictions" were in force in Maisuma and Kralkhud areas. The officials said security forces have been deployed in strength in other parts of the valley to avoid any untoward incident.

Reportedly, Zakir Musa was a former commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the militant group he joined in 2013 while pursuing engineering from a college in Punjab. He had succeeded commander Burhan Wani after he was killed in July 2018. Later, he founded his own group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, an affiliate of Al-Qaida. Zakir Musa had threatened Hurriyat leaders to hang them in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area for calling the Kashmir conflict a political one instead of a religious one to establish Islamic rule.