Thousands of mourners thronged Friday the funeral of a veteran journalist shot dead by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike outside his office in the main city of Indian held Kashmir. Shujaat Bukhari, a leading journalist and editor of the English-language daily Rising Kashmir, was leaving his office in occupied Srinagar on Thursday evening when three assailants roared up and fired several shots from close range.
Bukhari, 50, was rushed to hospital but was later declared dead. Two of his personal security guards also died. On Friday, funeral prayers were held at the Jamia Masjid grand mosque in occupied Srinagar before the burial in his native village in northern held Kashmir.
Bukhari, who was given police protection following three attacks on him in the past decade, had been a strong advocate of peace in held Kashmir. His final tweet, sent just a few hours before his murder, was a link to his website's reporting of the UN human rights chief calling for a major investigation into abuses committed by both India and Pakistan in Kashmir. The identity of the attackers and the motive for the killing was not yet known but police released CCTV footage of the three suspects on the motorbike.
Syed Salahuddin, chief of the United Jihad Council, an amalgam of groups, condemned Bukhari's killing and accused India of his murder. The government of held Jammu and Kashmir has ordered a high-level investigation into the attack that came just ahead of the biggest Muslim festival of Eid. Rising Kashmir on Friday carried a full-blown portrait of Bukhari on its front page against a black background.
"We won't be cowed down by the cowards who snatched you from us. We will uphold your principle of telling the truth howsoever unpleasant it may be," the paper wrote in an obituary. The murder has been condemned by both Indian and Pakistani leaders who hailed Bukhari as a fearless and courageous journalist.
In Muzaffarabad protesters gathered outside the Central Press Club and demanded an independent investigation into Bukhari's death. Uzair Ahmed Ghazali, chairman of Pasbaan-e-Huriat, a representative group of refugees from Indian-held Kashmir, said Bukhari was killed because of his contributions to the UN report on Kashmir.