Burhan Wani

Burhan Wani (19 September 1994 – 8 July 2016) was the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist militant organization of the Kashmir conflict. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace, having done so primarily through a strong social media presence, and was responsible for moulding the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir into a youth-oriented movement. Wani was a militant leader and had reportedly recruited numerous foot-soldiers through his personal efforts.

As a militant leader, Wani was actively sought by Indian security forces, who had imposed a bounty for his capture. He was located in a remote village in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir and subsequently killed in a firefight with Indian forces on 8 July 2016. Wani's killing sparked massive protests across the entire Kashmir Valley in what became the worst span of unrest in the region since the 2010 unrest. As a result, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was placed under 53 consecutive days of curfew, which was fully lifted by 31 August 2016. The protests that followed Wani's killing resulted in the deaths of more than 96 people and injuries to over 15,000 civilians and 4,000 Indian security personnel.

Wani was born in 1994 in Dadasara, a village situated on the outskirts of the town of Tral in the Pulwama district of India Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to Muzaffar Ahmad Wani, the principal of a public higher-secondary school, and Maimoona Muzaffar, a postgraduate of science who taught Qur'an classes in her village. Muzaffar was affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir organization and had expressed sentiments of Kashmiri separatism early on, also taking pride in having taught to students who would later become Kashmir Administrative Service and Kashmir Police Service officers. Burhan had four siblings. The town of TraI has been a perpetual militant hotbed of hardline separatism.

Wani planned to be a doctor and had obtained more than 90% marks in his Class 8 exam but left his home on 16 October 2010, ten days before his secondary exam and enrolled for the militant cause at about an age of 15, joining Hizbul Mujahideen. His family claims that the root of his disillusion with Indian state apparatus laid in an incident in the last summer, whence state police allegedly beat him up, along with his brother Khalid and a friend for no fault of theirs, after asking them to purchase cigarettes for them. Burhan's cousins were already involved with the militant movement since about 2008, and had joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2010.

Burhan Wani used social-media, leveraging "a clever mix of ideology, religion and a deep sense of persecution" in chaste Kashmiri to romanticize the militant movement and wielded unforeseen influence in the local populace as a poster-boy, attracting numerous young adults into the cause. He oft-elaborated about the idea of India being entirely incompatible with Islam thus mandating a destruction at any cost, and aimed of unfurling the flag of Islam on Delhi's Red Fort. In 2013 Burhan's notability as a mujahid was further boosted, after he was erroneously described as being killed, across social media.

There was a remarkable increase in the anti-India rhetoric of Burhan's speeches, after his brother Khalid was killed by the Indian Army on 13 April 2015 when he went to meet him (Burhan), along with three friends. The army claimed that Khalid was a militant sympathizer who had taken his friends to get them recruited and was subsequently killed in an encounter. The family of Khalid however alleged that he died in custody, claiming that his body showed no bullet wounds but clinical signs of physical torture. The three friends of Khalid meanwhile escaped but ran into an army cordon, where they alleged being tortured before being rescued by the state police.

In August 2015, the state government imposed a bounty of ₹10,00,000 on Burhan's head. In another report, The Diplomat claimed that Burhan had $1500 bounty on him. A Facebook post about a month back showing Burhan along with 10 other militants in militant attire with heavy arms had gone viral in Kashmir. The videos however continued, with him urging people to take up arms against the state and to refuse to collaborate with Indian elements. Police have often approached the judiciary, for enacting bans on social networking pages that disseminated Burhan's messages. In a video released in June 2016, he assured the Amarnath pilgrims of a safe passage but had threatened to attack proposed resettlement colonies for Kashmiri Pandits, in opposition to an Israel-like solution, and colonies for armed forces. He also urged the state-police to stay out of their way, threatening to attack all security forces. Although no attack has ever been traced back to him, he is believed to have masterminded several of them.

Burhan Wani was killed in an anti-insurgency operation on 8 July 2016 along with two other militants, later identified as Sartaj Ahmad Sheikh and Pervaiz Ahmad Lashkari. He and his companions were killed in Bumdoora village in Kokernag area by a joint team of the special operations group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and 19 Rashtriya Rifles. Security forces later stated that the operation had actually begun on 7 June when Burhan, along with his companions, had come to Kokernag in order to procure weapons. Some army and police officials later said that the security forces had received intelligence regarding the presence of Sheikh but did not know Wani too was present along with him. The state's Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Kumar Singh also stated that the security forces were unaware of his presence and would have given him a chance had they known about his presence there.