Srinagar: Advocate Babar Qadri, 40, was shot dead from point-blank range at his residence in Hawal area of Srinagar on Thursday evening by unidentified gunmen. Just a few days ago, he had tweeted a screenshot and requested the police to file a case against a Facebook user named Shah Nazir for spreading falsehoods that he worked for “agencies.”
“I urge the state police and 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 wrote in his tweet.
Qadri was a well known face for appearing frequently on news channels as part of debates, as also for his activism and political activities. In his Facebook profile, he had declared himself as President of All JK People’s Justice Party. According to reports, Qadri was recently suspended from the Bar association. On Thursday, in the hours before he was killed, he had posted many pictures on Facebook, including a video, commenting on the upcoming Bar association elections.
Mourners at his funeral told Kashmir Reader that he was rushed to SKIMS where he was declared brought dead. Scores of people offered his funeral prayers amid vigil kept by government forces. His body was taken for burial to the family’s ancestral graveyard in Tangmarg.
Survived by his wife and two children, Qadri was living in Hawal area of Srinagar where he along with his father moved in many years ago.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned Qadri’s murder, saying that the “assassination of Babar Qadri this evening is tragic & I unequivocally condemn it. The sense of tragedy is all the more because he warned of the threat. Sadly his warning was his last tweet,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz