Kashmir valley in shock as veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari shot dead

Srinagar, 17 Jun 2018 [Fik/News Sources]:  In a tragic loss to the journalist fraternity, senior journalist and Editor of valley based local daily  “Rising Kashmir” was killed by ‘unidentified’ gunmen in Srinagar on Thursday evening.  Bukhari  was shot dead outside his office at Press Enclave, Lalchowk, from where most of the local newspapers operate.

2 security officers accompanying him were also killed in the incident.

Family sources quoted his last rites ( Namaz-e- Janaza)  will be offered at his ancestral graveyard at Kreei Baramulla at 11 a.m. on Friday.

Bukhari is survived by his wife and two children. No militant organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Bukhari was also attacked earlier in 2000 prompting authorities to provide him the security cover. He was associated with The Hindu in different capacities before starting Rising Kashmir.  His killing has evoked massive criticism in the valley, with both separatist and mainstream camp condemning his  assassination.

Cheif Minister Mehbooba Mufti broke down while talking to press. “It’s very difficult to believe. He came to meet me just a few days ago,” she said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed the killing as an act of cowardice. “The killing of @RisingKashmir editor, Shujaat Bukhari is an act of cowardice. It is an attempt to silence the saner voices of Kashmir. He was a courageous and fearless journalist. Extremely shocked & pained at his death. My thoughts and prayers are with his bereaved family,” he tweeted.

Mirwaiz Kashmir Umer Farooq ,who heads the Hurriyat Conference (M) also expressed shock at his killing saying such inhumanity is unpardonable and must be condemned in strongest terms’

The Editors’ Guild of India also condemned the killing terming  his killing as a ‘new low in a rapidly deteriorating environment for media practitioners in Kashmir, in particular, and in the country in general’.