By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: On Thursday, June 14 evening, Kashmir valley went into mourning after one of its senior journalist and editor of newspaper Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari along with his two security guards were assassinated by three gunmen inside the press enclave.
A hub of newspaper offices and meeting point for journalists in Srinagar district, the press enclave is located in the city centre near historic Lal Chowk.
According to J&K police, Bukhari was travelling in a car near Press enclave where he was fired upon indiscriminately, which resulted in his instant death along with a Personal Security Officer (PSO) whereas another PSO succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital.
“Preliminary investigation finding indicates this as a militant attack,” the police spokesman said.
In last 28 years, 19 journalists including Bukhari have been killed in conflict-torn Jammu and Kashmir.
The assassination of Bukhari has rattled Kashmiris in general and journalism fraternity in particular.
“He was the most active member of the fraternity and an activist journalist. He was always on the forefront regarding the issues concerning the fraternity,” Sajjad Haider Ansari, founder and Editor-in-chief of newspaper Kashmir Observer told TwoCircles.net.
“His loss will be felt for a long time,” he added.
For those who have worked under him remember Bukhari as a peace seeker, guide and a mentor whose place can never be filled.
“He was a father figure for all those newcomers who wanted to enter this industry and was always accessible for everyone,” recalls Irfan Rashid who worked with Rising Kashmir for more than a year. “We are feeling as if our father has been snatched from us. We have been orphaned and the void created by him can never be filled,” he adds.
Widespread Condemnation
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has termed Bukhari’s brutal murder as a major blow for the Kashmiri media community.
“It comes just as the United Nations is calling for an investigation into human rights abuses in Kashmir,” RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said. “We urge the local and national authorities to shed all possible light on this horrific crime, which has silenced one of Kashmir’s leading independent and moderate voices.”
It has further urged the authorities to do everything possible to find his killers.
Committee to Protect Journalists termed attack on Bukhari as an attack on freedom of the press and a profound loss to the journalism community.
“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,” said Robert Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy executive director.
“Given the number of unsolved journalist murders and the political turmoil in Kashmir, we are concerned whether the Indian authorities will investigate this murder in a timely and effective manner,” he further added.
Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK), a body of doctors in the valley while expressing their anguish has said, “it is very hard and shocking to believe that we have lost the most thorough professional person of the journalist fraternity to the pangs of death.”
Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani in a statement issued to the press has said that the difference of opinion is no way a crime to kill a person.
“It is against the moral and human ethics to kill a person without any justification,” he said.
Demand for probe
Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG), a body of editors in Kashmir while strongly condemning the dastardly attack on Bukhari termed it as another shameful attack on the media in Kashmir that has been surviving with such attacks since 1989.
While warning the players of Kashmir turmoil that killing journalists will perpetuate the crisis further has asked for a speedy investigation into the brutal attack so that killers are identified and punished.
The Editors Guild of India has also called upon the government of Jammu and Kashmir to take urgent steps to bring to book the culprits and ensure safety and security for the media in the state.
“The killing of Mr Bukhari is a new low in a rapidly deteriorating environment for media practitioners in Kashmir, in particular, and in the country in general,” it said.
“This is a tragic, terrible and barbaric incident. It is the loss of whole Kashmiri nation. It is an attack on the people of Kashmir,” said Rao Farman Ali a political commentator and author of the book History of Armed Struggles in Kashmir, who feels that the situation in the valley has become anarchic and directionless and that is the reason that non-combatants are becoming victims of the violence.
“This needs to be probed, locally and internationally by constituting a commission which should have neutral persons as its members,” he further told TwoCircles.net.
Meanwhile, the state police have released two CCTV grabs of suspects and have sought the help of the general public in solving the case.