‘Rising Kashmir’ journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead last night by terrorists in Kashmir, days before Eid during the holy month of Ramzan. A bullet-ridden body of an Army jawan Aurangzeb, who was abducted earlier in the day, was also recovered from a village in Pulwama district. Bukhari was the brother of Bashrat Bukhari, a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir government.
No sooner did the news of the terror attack on him came out, the journalists, many of whom have talked about the threat to their own life recently, took to Twitter to blame the terror attack on Bukhari on ‘internet trolls’ and use it to bully scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan. Instead of blaming the terrorists and terror sympathizers for the valley, these ‘journalists’ blamed someone for voicing his opinion against Bukhari’s public views days before the assassination took place.
Earlier this week, Ranganathan had spoken at ORF forum on biased reporting regarding insurgency in Kashmir and other parts of India like Bastar.
In which @ARanganathan72 rips apart biased media reportage from the #Kashmir valley with one sample case of an editor who does not practice what he preaches. At the @orfonline panel discussion on ‘Fourth Estate at the Frontlines’ while ‘Tackling Insurgent Ideologies’. Must watch! pic.twitter.com/QhnuTmYfBU
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) June 13, 2018
He had quoted Bukhari and said how in one of his tweets he had said when it comes to Prophet Mohammad, he is proud to be intolerant. That when it comes to faith, there is no absolute freedom of speech. He was explaining how the ‘fourth pillar’ of the media sometimes misreports insurgency, thereby sympathising with the stone pelters and terrorists. Earlier in the day, Bukhari had defended his stand as an editor.
It is unfortunate that a credible think tank like @orfonline should allow this diatribe in absence of the person referred to. In #Kashmir we have done Journalism with pride and will continue to highlight what happens on ground. @samirsaran https://t.co/bGjajFT9yb
— Shujaat Bukhari (@bukharishujaat) June 14, 2018
However, the media vultures decided to take this as the launchpad to attack and bully Ranganathan and Aditya Raj Kaul, a journalist with the channel Republic, who has also been very vocal about the rising insurgency in Kashmir, where he hails from.
People like Aditya Raj Kaul, Anand Ranganathan and Madhu Kishwar who spread false, malicious propaganda against @bukharishujaat, they should know he’s been shot dead by terrorists. Wonder how they will sleep tonight
— Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) June 14, 2018
In a bid to deflect the blame from the terrorists, who actually killed Bukhari, some blamed a man who simply pointed out to the rampant terrorism in the valley and other parts of India, like Bastar.
Paid trolls like Anand Ranganathan, who have Zero journalistic experience, have no business sitting on a high horse, pinning agendas on journalists & editors who do actual fucking reporting. And face bullets. https://t.co/rCU1kyEl9l
— Vidya (@VidyaKrishnan) June 14, 2018
And some even tried to put the blame on ‘Twitter fundamentalists’ for being sceptical of those who cry ‘death threats’ especially when they have a new venture lined up.
Twitter fundamentalists ; pause carefully the next time journalists talk of death threats and pause before you tar people as anti-nationals. Shame on you and Shame on those fulminating primetime hate mongers. and most of all I wish Hell to those who did this to #ShujaatBukhari .
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) June 14, 2018
What a way to shift blame from the actual terrorists who actually killed one of their own to people on Twitter who disagree with them!
And suddenly the blame was shifted to ‘armchair patriots’, while completely forgetting that Bukhari was assassinated by Islamist extremists.
Armchair patriots don’t know what it’s like for so many journalists reporting on the ground in Kashmir. The kind of pressures they face, the stress they work under. Tonight I want to thank my colleagues like @nazir_masoodi @szaffariqbal for their work. RIP @bukharishujaat
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 14, 2018
Of course, speaking out against their fraternity for their biased reporting also made Ranganathan ‘vile supremacist’.
Remember, there was a vicious RW hate campaign against Shujaat Bukhari led by the vile supremacist @aranganathan72 just before he was killed. Never forget https://t.co/I5omNaAqVw
— Yeh Log ! (@yehlog) June 14, 2018
Oh, and some even tried to put the blame on ‘right wing’.
A milestone for right-wing Twitter & its TV sidekicks: Smearing a veteran Kashmiri journalist as a ‘quasi-Islamist’ just as the man is about to be assassinated by Islamists. #ShujaatBukharihttps://t.co/lqqQLfiqWZ
— Raghu Karnad (@rkarnad) June 14, 2018
These hatemongers will sleep well. Their ecosystem will reward them for this. https://t.co/3uwCFFEVOe
— Suvojit (@suvojitc) June 14, 2018
Again, let us remind you, Bukhari was killed by Islamist terrorist, not by someone who disagrees with mainstream media on Twitter.
This is what @bukharishujaat felt when @ORF gave a bigot a platform to smear him. Hope all involved managed to sleep last night. Active mainstreaming of hate against journalists https://t.co/VScazPY9dd
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) June 15, 2018
Well, I hope @ARanganathan72 is sleeping peacefully tonight knowing that the man he accused of being the mouthpiece of Islamic militants was killed by them. And I hope everyone who celebrated this statement is sleeping tight. Shame on you rhetoric mongers. I have so much anger. https://t.co/OFMdiTlUSW
— Neelesh Misra (@neeleshmisra) June 14, 2018
Unfortunate that at a time when one of their colleagues is shot at and killed by terrorists, these journalists, instead of mourning and condoling his death were busy scoring political points and indulging in hate mongering and bullying private citizens.
According to journalist who has been covering Kashmir for quite sometime, Bukhari was shot by Lashkar’s Fahad Waza and Mehrajuddin Bangroo. Not Twitter trolls or Scientists and columnists giving speeches. Actual terrorists with guns.
Two assassins of Shujaat Bukhari (on motorcyle) believed to be Lashkar’s Fahad Waza and Mehrajuddin Bangroo. pic.twitter.com/zRO0k8QFBR
— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) 14 June 2018
Meanwhile, Kashmir Police has released visuals of suspects who could have killed Bukhari and has asked the general public to help identify them.
General public is requested to identify the suspects in pictures involved in today’s terror attack at press enclave.#ShujaatBukhari @JmuKmrPolice @spvaid @DIGCKRSGR @PoliceSgr pic.twitter.com/3cXM0CC8BD
— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) June 14, 2018