The victims appear to be Muslims who cooperated with Indian authorities. Gowhar Hussain Bhat was a BJP official. Muzaffar Natta was suspected of being a police informer. That would, in the eyes of the attackers, render them apostates and unbelievers.
“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” (Qur’an 47:4)
“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Beheadings return to Kashmir to spread terror,” by Aarti Tikoo Singh, TNN, November 6, 2017 (thanks to Jaladhi):
NEW DELHI: The terror tactic of beheading, which many associate with the viral video of the 2002 decapitation of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, and which first appeared in Kashmir in 1995, has chillingly returned to the valley after a while.
Terrorists last week abducted a Kashmir BJP official, Gowhar Hussain Bhat, 30, and slit his throat. Bhat’s body, with a deep slash on his jugular, was found in an orchard in Kiloora, Shopian district. In August, terrorists decapitated 30-year-old Muzaffar Natta of Parray Mohalla Hajin of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. His headless body was recovered from the Jhelum, the video of which went viral in Kashmir, sending villagers into shock.
Police claimed that terrorists may have resorted to this brutality “to avenge the killing of Abu Musaib, nephew of top Lashkar leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.” The group suspected that Muzaffar was a police informer who got Musaib killed by the forces early this year, an official said.
Pakistan-sponsored cross-border proxy war is in full swing ever since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces last year in Kashmir. Over 340 terrorists and over 150 security personnel have been killed in Kashmir since 2016. Union home ministry estimates that last year more than 370 terrorists tried to infiltrate into the valley from Pakistan. Almost double the number of attempts were made in 2017 even as law and order improved and stone-pelting declined by three-fourths, an official said….