Srinagar: Unidentified gunmen on Thursday evening shot dead advocate Babar Qadri in Srinagar's Hawal area, officials said.
"Qadri was critically injured after being fired upon by unidentified militants at Srinagar's Hawal chowk," SSP Srinagar Dr Haseeb Mughal said, adding, "He was rushed to SKIMS where doctors declared him brought dead."
"The area has been cordoned off and searches are underway to nab the attackers," Mughal said.
SKIMS Medical Superintendent Dr Farooq Jan also confirmed the killing of Qadri.
"Qadri has been shot from close range. He had a bullet injury and was brought dead to the hospital," Dr Jan told ETV Bharat.
Meanwhile, Apni Party vice president Ghulam Hassan Mir had condemned the killing of Qadri.
In a statement issued here, Mir termed the incident as highly inhuman and barbaric.
“The killing of a young and promising lawyer who represented members of the poorest, most marginalized parts of Kashmir at all the forums available to him, including many of the victims of conflict and their families, has a devastating impact on access to justice in Kashmir,” he said.
Mir observed that by silencing a lawyer, many victims of the conflict are also silenced. “We have been reiterating this fact that violence begets violence and use of gun will never achieve anything,” Apni Party senior vice president remarked.
The advocate becomes second political or social activist to be shot dead by militants in the past 24 hours. Bhupinder Singh, a member of the block development council in Khag area of Budgam district, was shot dead by militants at his ancestral village Dalwash on Wednesday night.
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PTI
