SRINAGAR, Jammu & Kashmir—Veteran journalist and Rising Kashmir’s editor-in-chief Syed Shujaat Bukhari and his two personal security officers (PSOs) were shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside the newspaper’s office in Srinagar on Thursday. As soon as Bukhari stepped out of his office and boarded his vehicle at Press Enclave at around 7 pm to head home, unknown gunmen fired indiscriminately on the vehicle.
Shujaat and two of his PSOs Hamid Chaudhary and Mumtaz Awan sustained multiple injuries in the firing. Shujaat and Chaudhary died on spot while Mumtaz was shifted to SMHS hospital in critical condition. Mumtaz succumbed to injuries in the hospital in the evening.Both the PSOs hail from Karnah area of border district of Kupwara.
Bukhari, who was in his 50s, received volley of bullets shattering the window panes of his vehicle and leaving him and the two policemen in a pool of blood. The shooting comes a day ahead of Eid. It was not immediately clear how many gunmen attacked Bukhari, who earlier worked with The Hindu newspaper.
Shujaat was editor-in-chief of English daily Rising Kashmir, Urdu daily Buland Kashmir, and Kashmir daily Sangarmal, which are run by Kashmir Media House (KMH). He is survived by parents, wife and two minor children, a girl and a boy.
As the former president of Adbi Markaz Kamraz, Shujaat was well known in literary circles. His family members and well wishers condoled the shocking demise. He was a proponent of upholding human rights.
His body was taken to his native place at Kreeri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, where he will be laid to rest on Friday at his ancestral graveyard at 11 am.
