The unilateral ceasefire imposed by the Central government in Kashmir during the period of Ramazan proved to be terrible for the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The brutal kidnapping and murder of Indian Army soldier Aurangzeb and of Rising Kashmir Editor Shujaat Bukhari before that were unfortunately the two highlights of the ceasefire period. The blame for the murder of Shujaat Bukhari was tried to be placed on Bharatiya Janata Party and the security forces by liberals and the separatist supporters in the Kashmir Valley. With BJP pulling out of the PDP-BJP coalition in the state in the aftermath of the withdrawal of the Ramazan ceasefire, it was very important for them to find out who the killers actually were. In less than two weeks, the killers of Shujaat Bukhari have been identified by the security forces operating in the Kashmir Valley. Revealing their identity is enough to silence the voices which had blamed India and Indian forces operating in the Valley for the murder of the journalist. The involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jatt has also cleared the mystery around Shujaat Bukhari’s murder.
Two locals from South Kashmir were identified as the killers by the police team which got clues during an investigation carried out after the recent encounters in Kulgam. The police also got ample evidence which suggests that Naveed Jatt, a Pakistani citizen, was on the bike which was used to murder Bukhari. The three men sitting on a bike out of which Naveed Jatt was sitting in the middle were all caught on CCTV camera. The CCTV footage recovered clearly shows the three men on a bike minutes before they attacked and killed Shujaat. Jatt is a proven criminal who had fled from the busy SMHS hospital in February this year; being an LeT operative, he is known to be dangerous. Another accused has been identified as a Srinagar based blogger who used social media to defame Bukhari and ran a hate campaign against him with the help of CCTV footage. These are shocking bits of information coming from Kashmir where Kashmiriyat amongst other things have been razed to the ground.
The involvement of Pakistani citizens and LeT means the involvement of Pakistan cannot be ruled out from the incident. The murderers must have received some kind of backing from the Pakistan government which was angry with Bukhari for attending a conference in Dubai. If committed by Pakistan backed terrorists, this could mean that Pakistan wanted to send a message to its other agents by silencing Shujaat Bukhari. They demand 100% loyalty from their agents in the Kashmir valley and Bukhari was made the perfect example for their show of might and power. The Indian media and political figures who had without any solid proof tried to involve Anand Ranganathan and Madhu Kishwar into the brutal killings need to be ashamed. Their attacks on the wrong side of the border might have given the perfect alibi to the terrorists and Pakistani elements operating in the Valley. Thankfully, the police and security agencies uncovered the plot and laid bare the face of the real culprits of the Shujaat Bukhari murder case.
