MIRPUR (AJK) - Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Raja Farooq Haider Khan on Monday paid rich tribute to veteran legendary senior Kashmiri journalist, Syed Shujaat Bukhari Shaheed on his second martyrdom anniversary.
In a statement issued here, he said Bukhari was a strong voice of Kashmiris. The Indian occupational forces tried to silence the strong voice of Jammu and Kashmir people through his assassination two years ago in occupied Srinagar on June 14 depriving the state of a great intellectual.
The PM acclaimed Bukhari’s role as Chief Editor of Rising Kashmir’s was a guiding star for all the state based newspapers. “The motherland is proud over his unprecedented struggle of securing and protecting the rights of expression besides the birth rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, the PM added.
He further said Shujjat Bukhari was targeted on the particular day when United Nations’ Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) issued the report on the Human Rights situation in the occupied valley. “Bukhari and his friends had great contribution in it”, he said.
Raja Farooq Haider Khan said Bukhari’s journalistic services would always be remembered.
The Prime Minister reiterated his resolve that the mission of the late journalist to free the motherland from Indian clutches would continue with the same spirit. Meanwhile, Minister for Information, Tourism and Sports, Raja Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas also paid tribute to the martyred journalist and said he was a leading voice for peace, justice and rights in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said Bukhari raised voice for Kashmiri people by inviting the international community about the continued deterioration of peace in the Indian held valley following persistent deprivation of the people of their due right of self-determination by Indian authorities.
The Minister said India would never succeed in its designs to subdue freedom movement in Indian Occupied Kashmir.