(As Kashmir is once again in the focus worldwide in the wake of brutal Pahalgam terror, I remember Shujat Bukhari– who was also assassinated by terrorists on June 14, 2018)
It was about 17 years ago in New Delhi that I first met Shujat Bukhari, the Editor in Chief of “Rising Kashmir” , who ha
s been along with his driver shot dead by militants in Srinagar on June 14, 2018 triggering nation wide condemnation. And, as the fate would have it, both of us together somehow once survived a serial bomb blast that rocked Connaught Place and other localities in quick succession in the capital. The day if I correctly remember was September 13 (?) , 2008.
Both Shujat and I had gone to New Delhi to attend a seminar on Arms Control organized by ‘Control Arms Foundation India’ headed by Binalaxmi Nepram. Both of us were staying in the same hotel and, while in seminar, we sat side by side. Shujat was then also special correspondent of The Hindu in Kashmir.
Shujat seemed highly professional a journalist. Silent and most of the time absorbed in sending news feeds via his Blackberry and guiding apparently his juniors on various matters. He appeared to me a man who spoke less but watched more.
After the seminar was over Shujat suggested me that since we had time, we must visit Khan market and buy books. I readily agreed and we both walked down to Khan Market from the IIC. It was from Bahrisons Bookstore that at the suggestion of Shujat I bought the book “Exploding Mangoes” authored by Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif. He had told me ” Manas you will really like the book. It’s different and, perhaps, the best book that I read on Pakistani president Zia Ul Haq”.
Indeed. It was a book different. With extreme dry humour it was described by John Le Carre’ as ‘deliciously anarchic’. The book told stories in unbelievable sarcasm of the bizarre time of Zia Ul Haq and his mysterious death –a ‘Lavender flavored death’ with ‘mangoes’ flying and bursting all around the Pak president and his high profile entourage inside their blasted aircraft . Later, I had written a book-review on ‘Exploding Mangoes’ too.
It was after buying the books Shujat and I decided to visit Connaught Place and took an auto rickshaw. But after sometime I said, “forget Connaught Place, let’s return to the hotel”.
The decision to return to hotel was a Godsent one. In fact, as soon as we reached the hotel, several bombs went off in Connaught Place and other adjoining areas. I cannot off hand remember how many were killed –might be around 25 to 30 and more than 100 were injured. Had we been there– in fact, the timing of the bomb blasts and our arrival at that area by the auto, as we calculated later would be the same, we might have added to the causality numbers too. I do not know what would have happened– perhaps nothing , perhaps worst – but at least on that day my and Shujat’s fate was bound together.
I had reasons to skip the Connaught Place visit. At that time Dhiraj da ( late Dhiraj Guha , an eminent lawyer of Agartala) was suffering from cancer and he was in Tripura Bhawan, New Delhi for treatment purpose . His two younger brothers Tapan da and Tarun da were also with him. Tarun da knew I was in the capital and suggested that we spent some time at night in Tripura Bhawan. And it was by this time late afternoon- so I felt it would better to go to hotel instead of Connaught place where we did not have anything important to do actually. While in the hotel I also asked Shujat whether he would like to go to Tripura Bhawan with me. Shujat was a ‘dry’ man and he said, ‘ No, please excuse me. I would rather stay back. I have some works to do'”.
So after having a bath in the hotel I went to Tripura Bhawan to see Dhiraj da. I stayed there with Tapan da and Tarun da for sometime and then returned to my hotel.
I remember Shujat told me and, in a ‘matter of fact’ style, ‘You know Manas, I survived so far four assassination attempts- by both terrorists and security forces’.
Four assassination attempts !!-
-And that too by 2008– ten years ago..
Shujat was definitely a cool and calm person. And I found him a guy, who, perhaps, had never been excited in his life- not even when under fire. For me it seemed, at the face of it, Shujat had by this time learnt to live with blazing guns around and death lurking in every single bend of a road. But that information about attempts on his life also gave me some ideas as to how he lived a dangerous life as a dedicated professional journalist who never compromised on what he believed, ..and for his ideas and for his belief he faced risk to his life, time and again. He represented the inherent risk that a journalist faced in one of the most dangerously terrorist infested conflict zones–a flash point area – day in and day out.
He had been so far lucky . But on June 14, 2018 the luck ran out and the End came. An unfortunate brutal end. Terrorists fired at him from automatics from close range outside his office in the Press Enclave area of Residency Road. Both Shujat and his driver succumbed to injuries while his security officer was critically wounded. ( In Delhi he was freely moving with me and there was no security for him. This means threat on his life might have increased manifold in later years and government had provided him the security).
Later, of course, we were not in regular contacts . I had also lost his mobile number. On that fateful night- June 14, 2018 as thousands mourned for the departed journalist I was transported to 10 years ago and recollected those days in Delhi…the bombs and the book….