BJP MLA and former Jammu and Kashmir minster Chaudhary Lal Singh warned journalists in Kashmir to draw the line or be ready to face the fate of 'Rising Kashmir' editor Shujaat Bukhari. He was speaking at a press conference in Jammu on Saturday.
Bukhari was assassinated on June 14 by unknown gunmen outside his office at Press Enclave in Srinagar along with two of his police guards.
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Accusing reporters of vitiating the atmosphere in Kashmir, he said, “I will tell Kashmiri journalists to draw a line on the journalism you do and how you have to live. Do you want to live like what happened to Basharat (Shujaat Bukhari)? Take care of yourselves and draw a line so that the brotherhood lives on and progress and development continues.''
Singh had courted controversy last year after he asked a delegation of Gujjars if they have forgotten 1947. The delegation had gone to seek his help when he alluded to the killings of Gujjars in 1947 in Jammu.
After facing flak for his remarks, Singh said he was talking about the rising temperature (47 degree Celsius) in Jammu and not about the killings of Muslims in 1947.
Singh was forced to resign from the cabinet after he and Chandra Prakash Ganga, another former BJP minister, were criticised for attending a rally organised by Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the Kathua rape and murder accused in January.
Singh had told the rally that he would discuss their demand for a CBI probe into the Kathua incident with the BJP leaders and the chief minister.
After he was forced to resign, Singh launched campaign demanding a CBI probe into the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl. He held several rallies in Jammu and had targeted Mehbooba Mufti, accusing her of being biased.
National Conference vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah reacted to Singh's threat in a tweet, ''Dear journalists, your colleagues in Kashmir just got threatened by a @BJP4India MLA. It seems Shujaat's death is now a tool for goons to use to threaten other journalists.”
The National Conference dubbed Singh's remarks “outrageous”. “National Conference strongly condemns the outrageous remarks and threatening of Kashmiri journalists by BJP Leader and MLA Chaudhary Lal Singh. This merits immediate cognisance by the @JmuKmrPolice. We hope the law isn't subverted,” the party tweeted.