Today, we are posed with an eminent threat of being silenced and the popular narratives taking a centre stage as the intimidation and harassment of press throughout Kashmir escalates within every passing hours, but the attempt to silence the press is not new, it is an old story and dozens of characters have lost their lives in the path of preserving the essence of free and unbiased press.
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Mushtaq Ali, who worked as a photographer for Agence FrancePresse and a camera operator for Asian News International (ANI), when he was killed by a parcel bomb on September 7, 1995, in the office of one of the most prominent journalist from the valley, Yusuf Jameel in Srinagar district of Kashmir.
Yusuf Jameel taking to his Facebook shared a picture, along with a painful memoir of the day.
“Soon after photojournalist Mushtaq Ali and I had returned from the wedding reception of our friend Muzaffar Ahmed Jan, the sophisticated bomb hidden in hollowed out book –‘Kashmir Under Sultans’ which had been delivered in our absence at my office by a burqa – clad woman working for notorious Kukka Parray went off with sparkling yellow light as Mushtaq removed the wrap.
“He fell on the floor and started groaning in pain. I was also bleeding profusely and thinking the end has come, I started reciting Kalma Shahada and some verses of the Holy Qur’an memorized by me.
“Our other friend and colleague Habib Naqash who was sitting in a guest chair across my desk too had been hit by splinters – a couple of these in the chest near heart – he chose to move out of the room quickly so that he could relocate to hospital before it was too late for him.
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“But it was Mushtaq who had borne the brunt of the package bomb blast. Three days later (September 10) he passed away in the ICU of (Srinagar’s) Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). Rest in eternal peace my brother, we will never forget you. And never forgive the perpetrators.
On coming Thursday, he would be remembered fondly by all of us on his 25th martyrdom anniversary, In Sha Allah.
This incident shook the entire journalist fraternity of valley, and for Ali’s family, the incident was like a disaster that ruined them forever, He is survived by his mother Jala Banu and two sisters. His father died a few years after him.
“We do not know anything of the incident, it was only thorugh his coleagues that we came to know of the incident. They informed us that he died due to a parcel bomb explosion,” Sakeena, Ali’s sister was quoted by Kashmir life as saying.
Mushtaq struggled with death for 62 hours, but at around 5 AM, he succumbed to his injuries on September 11, 1995, he was laid to rest at the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Eidgah Srinagar. His death came as a big blow for the journalist fraternity. Regional, national and international news agencies observed the three-day strike.
Mushtaq was Born in 1968, he was 14 when he developed a passion for photography. At 15 he started working at his uncle’s studio.
In 1984 he joined local Urdu daily Srinagar Times and made his entry into the world of journalism. Mushtaq worked with several organizations including Kashmir Times, Wadi ki Awaaz and Nawa-I-Subah.