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Secretary General PFUJ G. M. Jamali condemns murder of Shujaat Bukhari

KARACHI: Secretary-General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) G. M. Jamali has strongly condemned the murder of Senior Journalist Shujaat Bukhari, Editor of daily Rising Kashmir in Srinagar (Indian-held Kashmir).

According to details, unknown gunmen shot Shujaat Bukhari 50, and two of his police bodyguards dead yesterday (Thursday 14th of June) as soon as he entered his vehicle outside his office in Srinagar’s press enclave.

“He (Bukhari) is no more. One of his two police bodyguards also died in the attack,” a top police officer told Media, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another police guard and the driver of the vehicle were critically wounded in the attack. Fellow journalists were on the scene soon afterward.

Bukhari was slumped over in the back seat; one of the police bodyguards had a gruesome wound to the head. Bukhari was a protected journalist, guarded by two armed police round the clock, in an area of India where political violence and threats to reporters is commonplace.

Witnesses said Bukhari died on the spot while the assailants fled immediately after the attack. No rebel group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Thousands of mourners thronged today at his namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers) held at the Jamia Masjid grand mosque in Srinagar before the burial in his native village in northern Kashmir.

Bukhari had been a strong advocate of peace in Kashmir. The Himalayan territory has been divided since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 and both India and Pakistan claim it in full.

New Delhi has about 500,000 soldiers in the part of Kashmir it controls, where armed groups are fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan. Bukhari took part in informal peace talks on Kashmir with Pakistani representatives in Dubai last year.

Caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Friday strongly condemned the assassination of Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari saying that the killing of brave and outspoken renowned Kashmiri journalist was a failed attempt to thwart every voice unveiling the Indian brutality by force. In a statement, Syed Ali Zafar said history was a witness of the fact that the resistance approach could never be crushed by use of force. Shujaat Bukhari, he said had added another chapter in the great history of Kashmiri martyred and the Indian oppression. He said the Indian brutality could not stop Kashmiris from achieving their right of self-determination. The minister also prayed to rest the martyred soul in eternal peace and for the grant of patience and strength to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with courage

 

M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.