Thousands bid adieu to champion of peace
SRINAGAR: Thousands of friends and admirers on Friday joined the funeral procession of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who was laid to rest in his ancestral village in Kreeri a day after he was shot dead outside his office in Srinagar.
The 50-year-old journalist and two of his personal security officers were killed on Thursday evening in a drive-by shooting by suspected terrorists that sparked outrage in the troubled Valley and condemnation by political leaders across the party divide.
The body of the senior journalist, who championed peace in the Valley torn by almost three decades of separatist violence, was taken at 11am to the funeral ground where journalists, politicians, social activists and local villagers were among the thousands in attendance.
The procession traversed the one-kilometre distance from his ancestral home in Kreeri, 37 kilometres from Srinagar in Baramulla, to the graveyard where his body was laid to rest as young men chanted religious slogans.
Senior ministers in the state government Abdul Rehman Veeri, Altaf Bukhari and Naem Akthar, several legislators, and leaders of mainstream political parties attended the funeral. National Conference vice president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah also participated.
“It is not a loss only to our family, but to entire Kashmir, especially the journalist fraternity,’’ said Tariq Ahmad, a cousin of Bukhari.
“This death has left us devastated. We have no words to express our grief,’’ said another relative, Shabir Ahmad.
A journalist for more than three decades, Bukhari established Rising Kashmir a little over 10 years ago. The paper published a tribute to him on its front page and said it won’t be cowed down. “You left all too sudden but you will always be our leading light with your professional conviction and exemplary courage. 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...Rest in peace!” the paper said.