Shujjat Bukhari’s Demise: A big loss throws up bigger challenges

The killing of veteran journalist of great repute Syed Sujaat Bukhari on June 14 this year left every Kashmiri shocked and void created by his demise in the field of journalism in Jammu & Kashmir can’t be filled for a very long time now. Though his death is a severe setback to journalism in Kashmir, but the role he played as a full time bureau chief of India’s one of the leading national dailies “The Hindu” would be the source for young minds in the field of journalism for a very long time in Kashmir now. Shujaat’s contributions in the field of journalism will go down in golden letters in the annals of Kashmir’s history of journalism. His contributions in journalism speak volumes about his mission left unfulfilled by his untimely demise.
Shujaat launched Rising Kashmir in 2008 as a daily newspaper from Srinagar and was subsequently runing language papers Buland Kashmir, the weekly Kashmir Parcham and Sangarmal. The young journalists who were part of Shujaat’s team at Rising Kashmir have the capacities and potentialities to go ahead to fulfill all the unaccomplished dreams of late Shujaat Bukari. As he always delivered sermons on fearless reporting with objectivity and integrity, it is time for young journalists to take a cue from his ideas of competitive journalism which he tried to nurture till his death. As a champion of fearless and unbiased reporting in Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari would always try to exhort the young journalists to propagate truth and side with the victims of the ongoing violence in Kashmir. He mustered the courage to understand issues concerning the future of the people of Jammu & Kashmir well and present his views with logic with reason and logic before any local or international audience of intellectuals. He was one of the few senior journalists in Kashmir who contributed immensely to the cause of peace with his pen and voice and also worked tirelessly for growth of competitive journalism in Jammu & Kashmir. So the loss of Bukhari is irreparable and we will always remember him for his contributions both as journalists and as wells as a thinker and a reformer. . Though Kashmir has lost an icon of competitive journalism in Kashmir but the contemporaries of Shujaat have to try to carry on the mission of competive journalism with great commitment and professional integrity .

Who was Shujaat Bukhari?
-Shujaat Bukhari was a veteran journalist and founder editor of Rising Kashmir, a Srinagar-based local daily newspaper. He was earlier the Bureau Chief of The Hindu for more than a decade.
- Bukhari had done Masters in Journalism from Ateneo de Manila University, Manila as a fellow of Asian Centre for Journalism, Singapore.
-He was a recipient of World Press Institute (WPI) USA fellowship and Asian Centre for Journalism Singapore fellowship.
-He was also the president of Adbee Markaz Kamraz, the biggest and oldest cultural and literary organization of Valley.