Thousands attend funeral of slain editor Shujaat Bukhari, voice of 'peace, sanity' in Kashmir
Shujaat Bukhari funeral
Bukhari's killing 'is an attempt to silence the saner voices of Kashmir. He was a courageous and fearless journalist,' Home Minister Rajnath Singh said
Thousands of mourners attended Shujaat Bukhari's funeral in Baramulla today. Bukhari, editor of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, was gunned down as he left his office in Srinagar's Press Enclave on Thursday.
Bukhari's killing was condemned across the country. The Editors' Guild called it a "new low".
"It is an attempt to silence the saner voices of Kashmir. He was a courageous and fearless journalist," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.
"He was a brave heart who fought fearlessly for justice and peace in Jammu & Kashmir... He will be missed," said Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
But commentators added that the very qualities that Bukhari is being lauded for today are the ones that got him killed — that he was a rare voice of peace and sanity in Kashmir.
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That meant, the commentators said, that he found himself between a rock and a hard place. Kashmiri separatists disliked him for not being anti-India, while Indian nationalists disliked him for not being nationalistic enough.
The divide between the people seen as pro- and anti-India was also illustrated by another killing reported from Kashmir on Thursday.
Also read:An evening in Kashmir
An Indian Army soldier, Aurangzeb, was abducted and killed by terrorists. Aurangzeb was Kashmiri.
Aurangzeb's abduction and killing — like that of Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, also a Kashmiri, last May — point to a hardening of the divide between the people in Kashmir who are seen as pro- and anti-India.
That, the commentators said, would make peace harder in Kashmir.
An attempt on Bukhari's life had been made earlier too. A few years ago, Bukhari was kidnapped from Srinagar's Residency Road and bundled into an auto. But Bukhari was able to jump out and escape as the auto reached the Old City.
Bukhari was from Baramulla.His father was a professor,his mother a teacher.
His elder brother, Syed Basharat Bukharim, is a minister in Mehbooba Mufti's government.