INDIAN authorities have been urged to investigate the killing of a prominent journalist in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Politicians, rebel groups and separatist leaders have condemned the murder of leading editor Shujaat Bukhari.
Indian authorities must ensure a “thorough and credible” probe into the shooting death and bring the killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.
The media watchdog, however, questioned whether the government would conduct an adequate probe.
“Given the number of unsolved journalist murders and the political turmoil in Kashmir, we are concerned whether the Indian authorities will investigate this murder in a timely and effective manner,” CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney said in a statement.
“Until justice has been served, the killing of Shujaat Bukhari will exacerbate the climate of fear in which journalists work in the state.”
Bukhari was killed along with his two police guards by unidentified gunmen on Thursday evening as he left his office in Srinagar, the disputed region’s main city. In his early 50s, he was a group editor for three daily newspapers and a weekly, including the English-language daily Rising Kashmir.
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