Orders To Kill Editor Shujaat Had Come from Pakistan

Editor Shujaat was killed as Pakistan did not approve his peace moves.

Srinagar: Investigators looking into the murder of editor of ‘Rising Kashmir” Shujaat Bukhari say the orders to bump him off came from Pakistan.

The Jammu & Kashmir police now have some concrete clues on the killing of Shujaat and expects to crack the case soon.

The officers involved in investigations said they have proof that Shujaat was gunned down by terrorists on instructions from across the border, most probably for trying to promote peace in the Valley. This was seen unfavourably by separatists and the Jamait-e-Islami leaders on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC). “ We have clear-cut investigation leads to the accused. The killers have been identified,” the officers said.

The police are now waiting to unravel the digital threads leading to the killers.

Shujaat’s views were at odds with those of separatists in the Valley and that of the United Jihad Council headed by senior Jamait and Hizbul Mujahideen leader Sayeed Salahudeen.

The police officers said they are convinced that the editor’s killing was also aimed to send a message to other journalists to not voice anything other than Pakistan’s official line on Kashmir. They added that in the past too, anyone with a view different from Pakistan and the separatists in the Valley is usually neutralized or threatened into submission.