Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday claimed to have made a breakthrough in senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari’s murder case, saying the “conspiracy” was hatched in Pakistan and executed by Lashkar-e-Tayyabba militants, including wanted militant Naveed Jatt who escaped from police custody in January this year.
Sharing details of the investigation with journalists in the summer capital, inspector general of police (Kashmir) S.P. Pani said they have “tangible evidence to establish it was done from Pakistan”.
According to the IGP, a former Srinagar resident, Sajad Gul, who is associated with Lashkar and based in Pakistan, had started a “malicious online campaign” against Bukhari.
“We now have evidence to confirm the identity of three others as Azad Malik, Muzaffar Ahmad and Naveed Jatt,” the IGP said.
During the presser the police released photographs of all four persons and said the accused were now wanted for their involvement in the killing.
The police had set up a special investigation team (SIT) comprising deputy inspector general of police, central Kashmir V.K. Birdhi and senior superintended of police Imtiyaz Ismail to investigate the assassination.
“There was a Facebook account in the name of ‘Kadwa Sach (bitter truth)’ and also a Twitter handle in the name of Ahmed Khalid, ahmedkhalid@313. We have tangible evidence to prove that these accounts were handled by Sajad Gul,” the IGP said, adding the police would approach Interpol for a red corner notice against Gul to seek his arrest.
The accused
Gul has been arrested twice in connection with militant activities, first in New Delhi in 2002 and then in 2006 in Srinagar, before he managed to obtain a fraudulent passport and flew to Pakistan in March 2017, said the IGP.
“He created blogs and came up with write-ups and posts on social media,” said Pani.
Jatt, a resident of Pakistan’s Punjab province, infiltrated the border into Kashmir in 2011-12 and operated in the northern part of the Valley for some time before shifting his base further south.
“In a short span of time, he grew within the ranks and worked closely with (slain) LeT commanders Abu Qasim and Abu Dujana, before he was arrested from a hideout in Kulgam in 2014,” said a police official. “There are several cases of murder and attack on security forces against him (Jatt). He operated in the hotbed of militancy – Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama.”
However, he dramatically escaped from police custody in January this year when he was taken to a Srinagar hospital from the central jail for a check up.
“He was a minor when he entered Kashmir,” said another police official.
The other two militants, Ahmad and Malik, are from south Kashmir, according to the police. Ahmad alias Talha, a resident of Sopot Devsar, Kulgam, has been active from January this year. He was a neighbour and close associate of slain LeT militant Shakoor Ahmad Dar, who was killed in an encounter last week. Malik alias Dada of Arwani Bijbehara, Anantnag, has been active since 2016. He is presently the militant group’s district commander, Anantnag.
Lashkar’s denial
On Wednesday, the LeT issued a statement to local newspapers, denying its involvement in Bukhari’s killing while stating it was ready to cooperate in an international probe into the murder.
“If Indian forces are truly convinced that this heinous crime was committed by mujahideen then they should have no objection to an independent investigation into this murder by a neutral country such as China or Russia. We will fully cooperate in the investigation and would accept the findings,” LeT chief Mehmood Shah was quoted as saying by outfit spokesperson Abdullah Ghazanwi in the statement.
The killing
Bukhari, who was editor-in-chief of Rising Kashmir newspaper, was killed outside his office at Press Enclave in Lal Chowk on June 14, along with his two security guards.
With three decades of experience in journalism, Bukhari had started his career with Jammu-based newspaper, Kashmir Times in the early 1990s, before joining The Hindu newspaper where he worked as the Srinagar bureau chief for 15 years. In 2008, he launched Rising Kashmir and was also began editing Urdu daily Buland Kashmir, Kashmiri vernacular Sangarmal and Urdu weekly Kashmir Parcham.
Mudasir Ahmad is a Srinagar-based reporter.