Hundreds At Journalist Shujaat Bukhari's Funeral In Kashmir's Baramulla

Srinagar: Hundreds of mourners in Kashmir today joined the funeral procession of Shujaat Bukhari, a senior journalist shot dead by terrorists last evening in Srinagar.

The funeral took place in the ancestral village of Mr Bukhari, Kreeri in Baramulla. Despite heavy rain, crowds of villagers, friends and colleagues followed the procession through the streets of the village. There was a traffic jam in the area as the crowds swelled.

The Editor-in-Chief of "Rising Kashmir" was killed by three terrorists on a bike, seen on security footage carrying weapons in a sack.

The killers were ready to strike as  Mr Bukhari, 52, emerged from his office in Srinagar's Press Enclave and got into his car to drive to an Iftar party. He was hit by multiple bullets fired at close range.
 Mr Bukhari's two security guards were also killed in the attack. The journalist was given police protection after an attempt on his life 18 years ago. The father of two was also said to be on a terrorist hit list.

The police have put out a public appeal for help to identify or zero in on the killers from the CCTV images.

Among those who took part in the funeral and visited his ancestral home were opposition leader Omar Abdullah and ministers from the ruling PDP and the BJP.
 Mr Bukhari had been part of informal peace talks on Kashmir with Pakistani representatives held in Dubai last year.

His final tweet just a few hours before his killing was a link to the UN human rights report blaming India and Pakistan for human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

This morning, his newspaper "Rising Kashmir" came out with an edition carrying the full-page photograph of its editor-in-chief against a black background.