ISIS in Kashmir: more fiction than reality

ISIS-like turn in Azadi struggle?

The worry in Kashmir, as security experts will tell you, is not about Kashmiris joining the ISIS, which is seen as a highly unlikely scenario, but an “ISIS-like turn” in the ongoing Azadi struggle.

Stoking these fears is the recent ideological strain within the militant ranks, triggered by former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa's branding of the Kashmir movement as 'Islamic' in nature. He had threatened to chop off the heads of the Hurriyat leaders should they continue to insist that the struggle in Kashmir was political. And on being rebuffed by the PoK-based Hizbul leadership, Musa quit as the commander of the outfit and hinted at striking on his own.

Announcing his exit from in audio slideshow, complete with quotes from Al Qaeda leaders like Imam Anwar Awlaki and Abu Bakr Bashir, Musa said that although he had nothing to do with ISIS and Al Qaeda, he was not against them. But he made it clear that he won't budge from his stand – that the goal of the Kashmir movement is the creation of an Islamic state, and that he would prefer to fight its secularist champions now than after Azadi.

However, in Kashmir, Zakir's Islamist preference has become a cause for grave concern. Some of this concern has also been expressed across social media, where many subscribers insist that the movement in Kashmir is essentially political and not religious. In fact, the Facebook page “Zakir Musa ka kya paigam, Kashmir Banega Darul Islam (What is the message of Zakir Musa? Kashmir will become the abode of Islam)” has just eight likes.

Tarnishing the movement with hardline labels

In Kashmir, the debate about an ISIS takeover of the militancy has become inherently suspect. People generally do not look at it through the prism of a pursuit of Islamist-versus-secular state. In everyday discourse, being Islamic or secular is incidental to a struggle that is taking a daily humanitarian toll in terms of the lives lost and the economy of the state.

The only thing that weighs heavy on the minds of people is a dignified end to the problem. So, people tend to look askance at the attempts to ideologise the movement; more so, when the attempt is to bring in Islam, ISIS or Al Qaeda into the discourse.

“This is seen as a dubious move to tarnish the Kashmiri movement with a hardline Islamist label, to ensure the world doesn't warm up to it,” says the commentator Gowhar Geelani. “People don't like such an attempt, real or imagined.”

And that is why, whenever ISIS flags were hoisted by a few masked youth in downtown Srinagar, people generally suspected the hand of “Indian intelligence agencies” behind it.

But when contacted by the media, some of the youth who either witnessed the hoisting of these flags or approved of the practice explained that its sole purpose was to “offend New Delhi”, rather than emulate the terror outfit, about which they generally knew little.

Besides, more often than not, such flag hoistings are the outcome of the attempt to draw media attention. Earlier, youth in the Valley also flew flags of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the Taliban and Al Qaeda, in keeping with the changing jihadist trends in the neighbourhood and across the globe. And with ISIS in the ascendant, the flags of the group, for a while, became a constant with the new protests.

Has Musa patched up with Hizb?

For now, the only thing that points to an apparent ideological shift in the militant struggle are the Islamist observations of Musa, and his consequent exit from Hizbul to pursue an independent religious goal.

However, according to eyewitnesses, Musa was present at the funeral of the slain Hizbul commander Sabzar Bhat, and broke down on seeing the body.

Has he returned to Hizbul? Has there been a patch-up? Nobody knows.

However, things are likely to become clear in the weeks and months ahead.