A photo journalist got killed in Afghanistan. He was an Indian and his name was Danish Siddiqui. The incident happened a few days back.
He was said to be travelling with Afghan security forces near Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He was on an assignment from reuter to cover the violent clash that is going on all across Afghanistan. The vehicle they were travelling in was set upon by a group of Talibani fighters, leading to heavy exchange of fires between both sides. Danish got hit by bullets and succumbed instantly.
It was a death of a journalist who had knowingly entered the war zone. He must have been aware of the history of barbarism of Talibans. Or did he feel less threatened because of his religious identity?
Whatever it is, he is unfortunately no more. But things are heating up after his death. Some Islamists are outraged that the pictures of his dead body are doing the rounds in social media. Dead should be given the respect and mourned privately, they say. They are hurling choicest abuses at right wingers for not giving due respect to somebody who is dead.
But the same people were celebrating journalistic work of Danish not too long ago. He had clicked drone shots of burning dead bodies of Hindus in crematoria during second wave of Covid-19. The photos were splashed across the front pages of many global publications. Many belonging to Hindu faith were pleading them to stop publishing pictures of dead. They were pleading for privacy and respect that people after their death deserve. But all Islamists and fanatic communists were at their peak of excitement, gleefully circulating and celebrating pictures of dead. Danish provided them the fodder and they were unrelenting in attacking the government by desecrating memories of dead Hindus.
Danish himself was noted for his support to the elements who indulged in extremism and terrorism. He had demanded death penalty for Gujurat police who had eliminated Ishrat Jahan and her terrorist accomplices from Pakistan. He also used to mock Hindu festivals like Diwali by tweeting about his wish to beat the people who invented crackers. Imagine he found crackers problematic, yet he braved into a zone where bombs, grenades, rockets are going up in air day and night.
A truly remarkable end of a love affair with terrorism! What better way to bid goodbye to the world than in the lap of one you loved so dearly all your life?
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