India blames Pakistani group for Kashmiri editor murder

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Police in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday blamed a Pakistan-based militant group for the killing of senior Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar earlier this month.

“We have tangible evidence to establish that the whole conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT],” Swayam Prakash Pani, the regional police chief, said in a news conference in Srinagar.

Bukhari was killed on June 14 along with two of his security guards after unknown gunmen opened fire at his vehicle, killing him and the two guards.

Police had identified four suspects and also released their pictures.

Pani said Sajad Gul, a resident of Srinagar, had hatched the alleged conspiracy to kill Bukhari in Pakistan.

He also named the other three militants as Azad Ahmad, a resident of Arwani in south Kashmir; Muzaffar Ahmad, a resident of Qazigund in Kashmir’s south; and Naveed Jutt, an alleged Pakistani militant.

LeT distanced itself from the killing, blaming it on Indian intelligence agencies instead.

“This is nothing but a blatant lie. India media endorses its agencies and that is the very reason it strives to hide their vicious activities,” LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in a statement.

Responding to Indian media reports that instructions to assassinate Bukhari came from Pakistan, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman said it was “not a coincidence” the murder took place hours after Bukhari had tweeted about the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report on Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Indian narrative about M. Bukhari’s shahadat [martyrdom] changes by the hour in an effort to deflect blame from the Indian forces of extremism and fascism present in the Indian occupation forces,” the Pakistani Foreign Office added.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.