SRINAGAR: Journalists in Kashmir took out a rally to protest against the killing of Rising Kashmir editor-in-chief Syed Shujaat Bukhari and the threat to the media by BJP MLA Lal Singh.
Reporters, editors, photo-journalists and video-journalists working for different media organisations took out a protest rally organised by the Editors Guild of Kashmir from Press Enclave to Clock Tower in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk on Tuesday afternoon.
The journalists carried placards and banners with messages such as ‘No bullet can kill an idea’, ‘Arrest Lal Singh’, ‘We will not be cowed down by cowardly acts’, ‘Words will speak from the graves’ and ‘You can’t censor, silence and suppress press freedom.’
“Today in one voice, we strongly denounce Shujaat’s killing and Lal Singh’s threat,” Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin said.
Shujaat and his two security guards were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar on June 14. A suspect, who had run away with pistol of one of the slain security guards, has been arrested.
Condemning Shujaat’s assassination, the mediapersons asserted they won’t be cowed down by such incidents and would continue to highlight the truth. “We demand that Shujaat’s killers be identified and brought to book. Tough punishment should be awarded to them,” one of the journalists said.
They also denounced Lal Singh’s threat warning journalists of Kashmir to mend their ways and not to cross the “red line” else they would meet with Shujaat Bukhari-like fate. The journalists urged Governor NN Vohra to take note of the BJP MLA’s threat to journalists and to take necessary action against him. They also sought an FIR against Lal Singh.