Editor Shujaat Bukhari. Senior journalist and Editor-in-Chief of English daily "Rising Kashmir" Shujat Bhukhari was shot dead by militants outside his office in Srinagar.
Militants fired from close range at Bukhari outside his office in the Press Enclave area of Residency Road here on Thursday, critically injuring him, his driver and a security guard, police sources said.
All the three injured were shifted to hospital, where Bukhari and his driver were declared dead by doctors and the security guard is critical, the sources said.
None of the terrorist groups active in the Valley have so far claimed responsibility. The last time a journalist was killed in Kashmir was over a decade ago. Srinagar itself saw killings in 2003, when Parvaz Muhammad Sultan, a reporter for a local news agency, was shot dead by gunmen in his office, and August 2000, when a bomb blast killed Pradeep Bhatia, a photographer with the Hindustan Times.
Bukhari, based in Srinagar, had been running Rising Kashmir for a little over a decade. Coming from an illustrious family of Kashmir – with a journalist as father, his elder brother Syed Basharat Bukhari serving as law minister in the Mehbooba Mufti government and another a government servant – Shujaat was one of the most respected names in Indian journalism.
Prior to launching his own newspaper, he was bureau chief of The Hindu in Srinagar for nearly 15 years. Widely travelled, Bukhari used to write in Kashmiri and Urdu as well as English. He was also the president of Adbee Markaz Kamraz, the biggest and oldest cultural and literary organisation of the Valley.
A voice of reason and sanity, Bukhari did not flinch from highlighting human rights abuses and consistently advocated dialogue as the way for resolution of Kashmir’s problems.
In a statement, Mehbooba Mufti said she was “shocked and deeply saddened” by Bukhari’s killing. “The scourge of terror has reared its ugly head on the eve of Eid. I strongly condemn this act of mindless violence and pray for his soul to rest in peace. My deepest condolences to his family. Terrorism has hit a new low with Shujaat’s killing. That too, on the eve of Eid. We must unite against forces seeking to undermine our attempts to restore peace. Justice will be done.” (IANS)