Shujaat Bukhari, the senior journalist of ‘Rising Kashmir’ was killed on the day of Eid. And many voiced their protests against his murder.
Days after the assassination of ‘Rising Kashmir’ editor Shujaat Bukhari outside his office in Srinagar on June 14, all the prominent newspapers published from Srinagar on Tuesday left the space for editorial blank in protest against the killing.
This came a day after journalists in Srinagar organised a silent march to protest the murder.
The decision to leave the space blank was taken in a meeting of Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG). KEG which met in Srinagar on Monday afternoon decided to lodge a strong protest against the killing of the scribe.
The editors’ body decided to leave the space for editorials blank so that the anger against the killing is registered.
“It was a unanimous decision taken by all the members of the KEG and the message was conveyed to almost all the newspapers in the valley. The reason behind leaving the edit spaces blank is to convey a message to the government that attacks like these on the press can’t continue,” senior KEG member said anonymously.
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According to this KEG member, almost 11 newspapers in the valley – Urdu and English alike – have left their editorial spaces blank.
“The hands which write these editorials have been snatched from us. It feels like our ink has dried. Hence was imperative we convey a message and register our protests. Shujaat’s killing is an attempt to censor, weaken and ultimately silence the role of the media in Kashmir,” he said.
Similar blank editorials were also printed by Bukhari’s Rising Kashmir, the newspaper he had founded as well.
Shoaib Hamid, who edits the edit page for Rising Kashmir said that newspaper’s plans to register their protests against Bukhari’s killing by publishing a blank editorial is to make the killers of Bukhari know that a “free and responsible press can’t be silenced.”
“Shujaat Bukhari’s murder is an attack on most of us. We will continue the protest. In fact, we at Rising Kashmir are planning to write scathing editorials on the violence in Kashmir,” Hamid said.
Hamid, however, also ruled that Bukhari’s killing should not be looked as an attack on the press but also an attack on any sane voice which wants peace in Kashmir.
Shujaat had just emerged from his office and got into a car on the evening of June 14 when unknown assailants on a motorcycle shot him and his two security guards. While Bukhari and one guard died instantly, the other officer succumbed later that evening.
The day after the murder, the police took into custody a suspect who was allegedly seen in a photo standing at the scene of the crime, attempting to retrieve a pistol. They also released CCTV footage of three suspects who were seen escaping on a motorcycle.
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