JK Police unveils Lashkar involvement in gruesome murder of Shujaat Bukhari; conspiracy hatched in Pak

Srinagar, June 29: Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday revealed a dark conspiracy of the assassination of Rising Kashmir founding editor Shujaat Bukhari that was hatched in Pakistan which is also known as ‘Terroristan’ and was executed by three Lashkar terrorists.

 

Notably, Sajad Gul, Muzafar Ahmad bhat and Naveed Jatt have been identified in Shujaat Bukhari murder case. While a blogger, who ran a hate campaign against Bukhari, has been identified as Shiekh Sajjad Gul alias Ahmad Khalid of HMT area of Srinagar, presently living in Pakistan.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Swayam Prakash Pani in a press conference said, “There was an online malicious campaign, which was intimidating at the time. At least five to six posts were on the public domain against Bukhari. We have enough evidence that reveals that the online campaign was operated from Pakistan. The evidence provided by service providers reveal that they are from Pakistan and were part of LeT conspiracy.”

SP Pani further noted that blogger Sajad Gul was a LeT operative and currently based in Pakistan, where from he ran a hate campaign against Bukhari on www.kashmirfight.wordpress.com. “Besides, there were malicious and intimidating posts spread through Facebook account, Kadwa Sach Kashmir and Twitter handle, Ahmad Khalid (ahmadkhalid@313) against Bukhari,” he added.

The Inspector General further revealed that Sajad Gul went to Pakistan in March 2017 on a fraudulent passport. “As per our investigations, he was arrested by Delhi Police in 2003. He was also arrested by J&K Police in 2016 for his involvement in militancy,” Pani revealed.

 

The IGP also stated that the three murderers belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba terror outfit and identified them as Pakistani national Naveed Jhatt, Muzaffar Ahmad alias Talha of Sopat, Qazigund and Azad Ahmad Malik alias Dada of Arwani, Bijbehara.

BACKGROUND:

A noted journalist and the editor of Rising Kashmir newspaper Syed Shujaat Bukhari along with his Personal Security Officer (PSO) were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar on June 14. Syed Shujaat Bukhari was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in North Kashmir's Baramulla district on June 15. Thousands of people attended funeral prayers of Bukhari which was held at Idd Gah Ground at Kreeri area of Baramulla.

Hours after Shujaat’s killing, police had released a CCTV grab of three suspects fleeing on a motorcycle. One of them was wearing a mask, another a helmet while the face of one was covered by another suspect. Taking a quick action in the murder case of noted journalist Shujaat Bukhari, the Jammu and Kashmir police arrested a youth and recovered pistol from his possession on June 15. His role was to recover pistol from Bukhari’s PSO.

Blogger Sajad Gul and Naveed Jhatt:

Blogger Sajad Gul was married to a sister of a noted terrorist from Srinagar before he fled to Pakistan. Reports said he had pursued MBA from a private institution in Bengaluru and trained as a laboratory technician before moving to Pakistan.

Jhatt had escaped from police custody from SMHS hospital in February this year and is active in south Kashmir.