Top footballer in Indian Kashmir joins ‘freedom movement’

A leading footballer on the Indian side of Kashmir has taken up arms to liberate his land, a news report has revealed.

Majid Irshad Khan, 20, a district-level footballer of Anantnag district, joined the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba a few days ago, an Express Tribune report said.

According to the report, Majid was a second-year under-graduate commerce student at a college in Anantnag.

He is a renowned footballer of the town and had passed class 10 and 12 board examinations with high scores, the report said.

Martyred in encounter

Majid’s friend, Yawar Nisar, joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in July this year and was martyred in an encounter with the Indian security forces on August 3.

Majid announced his decision by posting a picture on Facebook holding an AK-47 that went viral on social networking sites. “Why look up at the stars when the biggest star is me,” he wrote in the post.

Family and friends say Majid was also working with a humanitarian organization as a volunteer and emergency head.

Before he picked up a gun, Majid had made a name for himself as the goalkeeper of an Anantnag-based cricket and football club which he joined when he was in the ninth class.