Kashmir advocate Babar Qadri shot dead days after citing threat to life

New Delhi, Sep 25: Unidentified gunmen shot and killed advocate Babar Qadri in Srinagar's Hawal area today. Qadri was a panelist, debater, and a writer apart from being a lawyer.

"Militants fired upon advocate Babar Qadri at his Hawal residence around 6.25 pm from close range before fleeing the spot," a police official said.

Qadri, in his early 40s, was rushed to the SKIMS hospital, where doctors declared him "dead on arrival," according to official reports. The advocate used to appear on TV debates and wrote op-eds in local newspapers. Three days ago, he had tweeted a screenshot and urged the police in Jammu to register an FIR against a Facebook user for spreading a "wrong campaign" against him.

"I urge the State Police administration to register FIR against this Shah Nazir who has spread wrong campaign that I work for agencies. This untrue statement can lead to threat to my life, Qadri had written in his last tweet.

Qadri is the second political/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.