Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who lost his life while reporting from war torn Afghanistan, died of multiple gun shots, the Indian Embassy in Kabul confirmed on Sunday because it issued his death certificate.
The slain journalist’s body, which arrived in India late evening, are going to be buried within the graveyard of his school Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi, the varsity said today. Siddiqui’s mortal remains were delivered to India today by an Air India flight from Kabul.
The Jamia authority has made an exception for Siddiqui who are going to be laid to rest within the graveyard usually reserved for bodies of Jamia employees, their spouses and minor children.
“The VC accepted the request by Siddiqui’s family to bury his body within the Jamia graveyard which is otherwise used exclusively for bodies of university employees, their spouses and minor child,” the Indian Express quoted PRO Ahmed Azeem as saying.
Siddiqui was an alumnus of Jamia and his father Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqui was a former professor at Jamia’s Faculty of Education and stays in Jamia Nagar. The photojournalist had done his schooling from Jamia, and also did his graduation in Economics and post-graduation in Mass Communication from the university.
VC Najma Akhtar paid a visit to the family on Saturday and offered her condolences. The university would organise a condolence meeting on the campus on Tuesday, and an exhibition of Siddiqui’s work would be organised “in due course of time” on the campus to offer “inspiration” to the scholars , she said.
Siddiqui, who was working with press agency Reuters, was killed in clashes in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar. Based in Mumbai, he was covering things within the province as Taliban took over the key border crossing with Pakistan.
