Daily Times

Kashmir Council-Europe (KC-EU) Chairman Ali Raza Syed Friday condemned killing of renowned Kashmiri journalist Syed Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), on Thursday.

Gunmen shot dead the editor-in-chief of Jammu and Kashmir based newspaper

Rising Kashmir’ outside his office at Press Avenue in Srinagar on Thursday’s evening.

He received multiple bullets in his head and abdomen. Shujaat Bukhari was accompanied by his two personal security guards. They were also attacked and taken to hospital. One of the guards later succumbed in hospital.

The murder of the veteran Kashmiri journalist took place at the time when UN’s Human Rights body issued a comprehensive report on human rights abuses in IHK.

The United Nations in its first-ever human rights report on Jammu and Kashmir had called for an urgent need to address past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses and deliver justice to all people in Kashmir.

The main focus of the report released by the United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva remained on the human rights situation in the Indian-held Kashmir from July 2016 to April 2018. It said that people of Kashmir had been suffering a conflict for seven decades that had claimed or ruined numerous lives. The 49-page report by the UN on the human rights situation in Kashmir highlights a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by Indian forces.

“The UN’s report is highly appreciable move by the United Nation’s body, which exposed the large scale human rights violations committed by the Indian forces in IHK,” said Ali Raza Syed.

He asked UN to mount pressure on India for implementation of UN’s resolutions on Kashmir in order to provide right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

The international community should immediately intervene and stop human rights violation in IHK and play its effective role for just resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute, he urged.

Published in Daily Times, June 16^th 2018.