Zakir Musa became the Commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen after the death of Burhan Wani. Like his predecessor, he also believes in using the power of Social Media platforms to gain publicity. He has a habit of releasing videos after videos while not coming out in open on Face Book like Burhan Wani. The videos released by him indicate the shift in Kashmir militancy from Political Ideology to Islamic Caliphate owing allegiance to Al Quaida and ISIS. Following events indicate the Islamisation of Kashmir militancy under leadership of Zakir Musa:-

• Zakir Musa came out with two video one after another last year. In the first video, Zakir threatens the informers of Jammu and Kashmir police and tell them to leave Kashmir.
• In the second video, Zakir Musa threatened the Jammu and Kashmir police, saying that their families could not feel safe ‘just because they lived in Jammu’.
• In March this year, a 12-minute video surfaced on social media, in which Musa was seen asking the youths of Kashmir to pelt stones at the security forces.
• On 12 May 2017 in an audio, Zakir Musa heard, warning Hurriyat leaders to not to interfere in his Islamic struggle and if they do their heads will chopped off and hung at Lal Chowk.
• Within 24 hours of releasing his first statement, Musa released a second audio tape where he said that he was dissociating himself from Hizbul. Facing the criticism he says that “he stood by his views”.
• On 13 May 2017, Zakir Musa formally quit as commander of Hizbul Mujahideen after the terror outfit’s mastermind in PoK Syed Salahuddin strongly condemned his threat to Hurriyat leaders saying that he would publically hang them at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk.
• On 30 May In the aftermath of the encounter killing of Burhan Wani’s successor Sabzar Bhatt, multiple conversations were released, where Hizbul Mujahideen cadres were heard discussing that, Zakir Musa betrayed Sabzar Bhatt.
• On 06 June, Zakir Musa Joins Al Qaeda, calls Indian Muslims ‘World’s Most Shameless’
• On 06 July 2017, Zakir Musa was back with a new video. In this four-minute video, Musa paid tribute to 22-year-old Burhan Wani who was killed by security forces in July 8, last year. The video message hails Burhan Wani as the propagator of Caliphate.
• On July 06 2017, the reports indicated that Zakir Musa could be the first terror commander of the al-Qaeda in India. Inputs also suggest Musa might emerge as the new choice for the global terror outfit.
• On 27 July, Al-Qaeda’s propaganda channel announced that Zakir Musa will head Kashmir-based operations of the terror outfit in India. Al-Qaeda also formally announced establishment of a new Kashmir-based terror group, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.