Srinagar: United Jihad Council chief and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin has demanded an international probe into the killing of senior journalist and Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari last evening in Srinagar.
Condemning the killing, Salahuddin, according to a statement, said that Bukhari would always highlight the human rights abuses in Kashmir at the international forum through his newspapers.
“The killing of Shujaat Bukhari at a time when the UN human rights Commission released a report on the human rights abuses by Indian forces in Kashmir raises many questions,” Salahuddin said, in the statement.
Demanding an impartial probe by an international agency, Salahuddin said that they have a firm belief that Indian agencies and their agents were behind the murder of Bukhari.
Bukhari and his two personal security officers (PSOs) were shot dead by unknown attackers outside his office in Srinagar on Thursday evening, sparking widespread condemnations.
Meanwhile Lashkar-e-Taiba has strongly condemned the killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari even as it blamed “Indian” agencies “enmity” towards every individual who is “loyal to the freedom movement.”
Dr. Abdullah Ghazanwi, militant organization’s spokesman in a statement issued to GNS quoting Mahmood Shah, Chief Lashkar-e-Taiba, said: “Killing of Shujaat Bukhari is a conspiracy hatched to suppress the voice of indigenous freedom struggle. Indian agencies have enmity towards every individual who is loyal to the freedom movement. The world must pay attention to India’s vicious and ill-fated conspiracies.”
He claimed that India was keen to “kill every individual who is vocal about the indigenous freedom struggle and India’s atrocities.”
“India’s former army chiefs themselves are taking part in such conspiracies. India’s motive behind such vicious act is to blame Mujahideen (militants) for their own wrongdoings. But the freedom fighters have never targeted the civilians,” he said, adding, “The killing of Shujat Bukhari is also a wrongdoing of India’s secret agencies which is a highly condemnable act. India can never hide its terrorist face from the world.”
