Photo: Shujaat Bukhari Twitter
Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the newspaper Rising Kashmir, was shot dead on Thursday evening by unknown assailants in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The death of the prominent journalist shocked international media organizations that condemned the ghastly murder. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the killing a great loss.
In Pakistan, where journalists took to the social media to condemn the killing of Bukhari.
Bukhari was part of the “Track II” or alternate channels dialogue process between India and Pakistan.
He was in Washington D.C. in 2014 with a working group on Kashmir.
Shujaat Bukhari, star journalist, Editor Rising Kashmir, killed in Sri Nagar by gunmen. Abominable act. Great loss. May his soul rest in peace. Ameen.
— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) June 14, 2018
Bukhari’s killing came hours after the UN Human Rights office spotlighted India’s gross human rights violations and violence against protesters demanding freedom.
His tweet on release of the UN report calling for establishment of a commission of inquiry into violence in Kashmir was among the last he posted on his account.
Reports said three armed persons fired at him when the journalist stepped out of his office in Press Colony in Srinagar.
Sad News.. #ShujaatBukhari, Editor #RisingKashmir has been shot dead in Srinagar. 4 years ago he was here in Washington DC with intellectuals,s working group on Kashmir from both side Pakistan and India, in 2014, Pakistani journalist Asad Hasan wrote in a Facebook Post.
Bukhari received multiple bullets at a close range. Two security guards accompanying him were also targeted. According to BBC, one of the guards was killed while other was critically injured.
According to police, the killers were waiting for Shujaat Bukhari to come out of the building and it appeared to be a planned attack. It was not clear, however, who were responsible for the attack.
First ever such report on HR violations in #Kashmir https://t.co/x5jt9rsJed
— Shujaat Bukhari (@bukharishujaat) June 14, 2018
“Today at about 7:30 pm when he was coming out of his office and boarding his car, three terrorists, who had come on a motorcycle, opened fire. Two of his PSOs (personal security officers) were also hit… They were shot before they could react,” Indian- held Kashmir police was quoted by NDTV news channel.
The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned the killing of the editor of the English-language daily newspaper Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari.
The New York –based Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the killing of the journalist.
“The killing of Shujaat Bukhari is a profound loss to the journalism community and a blatant attack on freedom of the press,” said Robert Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy executive director. “Journalists working in Jammu and Kashmir have long been subject to a range of threats. Authorities must turn this rising tide of risks by thoroughly investigating this murder and holding the perpetrators to account, the committee chief said.
