Srinagar: Slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s successor Zakir Musa has espoused a pan-Islamic agenda, asking Kashmiri youths to fight with guns and stones for the supremacy of Islam and not for Kashmiri nationalism.

Zakir, who dropped out of an engineering college in Chandigarh to join militant ranks in 2013, said the youths fighting in the Valley should have a clear idea why they were doing so.

“Stone-throwers should not be fighting for nationalism. I see most people in Kashmir are fighting for nationalism,” Zakir said in a video uploaded on social networking sites.

The Hizb Commander claimed nationalism and democracy were forbidden in Islam. “Our stones and weapons should not be to fight for Kashmir. It should be for the supremacy of Islam so that Sharia is enforced here,” he said.

This is the first time Zakir has adopted a pan-Islam agenda after taking charge of the Hizbul Mujahideen in South Kashmir, echoing the views of his predecessor who too had taken the same line.

In the video, Zakir is seen wearing a black cap and a jacket. It has been recorded in a furnished room. He is armed with an automatic rifle and there is a logo of the Hizbul Mujahideen on the screen.

The Hizb commander said “collaborators” had illusions that they could defeat the militants by killing them.

“It (death) is our victory and what can be a bigger victory for us then laying down our lives in the path of Islam…. Defeat will be ours if you remove the sentiment of jihad from our hearts and minds,” he said.

Zakir seems to have been peeved by the pro- azadi slogans that has become the dominant narrative in Kashmir. Hizb fights for Kashmir’s accession with Pakistan.

The six-minute video also has a stern warning for police and informers. Zakir has asked them to “return to the path of piety and seek forgiveness from God”.

The video has been released at a time security forces have stepped up the offensive against militants, which has caused damage to both sides.