Shujaat Bukhari, veteran Journalist and Rising Kashmir Editor mourned by the country, hundreds turn up for the funeral

Jammu and Kashmir's leading English daily 'Rising Kashmir' Editor Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead out of his Srinagar office on Thursday by unknown gunmen in the heart of Kashmir along with his two personal security officers (PSOs). The nation mourned on his sudden and shocking death as hundreds of people turned up in his last rites.

The funeral of the 52-year-old Rising Kashmir's editor-in-chief was held on Friday morning. There was a huge stream of mourners visiting his home after the attack and to the last rites. Bukhari will be laid to rest in his ancestral village in Kreeri in north Kashmir's Baramulla district today.

The Rising Kashmir on its Friday edition hit the stands with its front page carrying the full-page photograph its late editor-in-chief Shujaat Bukhari in black background. The page also carried the message that the paper would not be cowed down.

“You left all too sudden but you will always be our leading light with your professional conviction and exemplary courage. We won't be cowed down by the cowards who snatched you from us. We will uphold your principle of telling the truth howsoever unpleasant it may be...Rest in peace!” the paper said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also visited Bukhari's residence to offer his condolences to the grieving family.  Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah took Twitter and posted, “The show must go on. As Shujaat would have wanted it to. This is today's @RisingKashmir issue. That Shujaat's colleagues were able to bring out the paper in the face of insurmountable grief is a testament to their professionalism & the most fitting tribute to their late boss,” along with a picture of the front page of the paper.

Bhukari survived with his one son and a daughter and wife. In nearly three-decades-long violence Bhukari is the fourth journalist to be killed by militants.

Also read: Journalist Shujaat Bukhari, Editor of 'Rising Kashmir' shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside the office in Srinagar