Journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who escaped after being kidnapped here by two men last night, has said one of his abductors tried to shoot him but the weapon malfunctioned.
Bukhari, a special correspondent for The Hindu, said this was the third attempt on his life in the past four years but he had not sought police protection even after yesterday's abduction.
"As of now, I have no idea of the motive behind the incident and that will have to be established by an investigation," Bukhari told PTI here.
Describing his hour-long ordeal, he said he was bundled into an auto-rickshaw by a gun-wielding man at about 8 pm at Lal Chowk. The gunman and his accomplice then drove Bukhari towards the outskirts of the city.
"I was not asked anything. The men didn't even speak to me," the 37-year-old scribe said.
The auto-rickshaw finally stopped at Soura, about seven km from where Bukhari was picked up, and he was pushed out.
"One of the men pulled out a gun and tried to shoot me, but the gun jammed or misfired and I ran away," he said. "It was completely dark and I took another rickshaw and reached the home of a friend."
Bukhari said the attempts on his life sometimes made him feel like giving up journalism, but "then you adjust and get back to the job as there's no other option".
"It's all about adjusting to a difficult situation," he said.
Journalists working for local, national and international news organisations expressed concern and condemned the attack on Bukhari at a meeting convened here today.
Scores of journalists including Editor of leading Urdu daily 'Al-Safah News' Mohammad Shaban Vakil, Editor of a local news agency Parwaz Mohammad Sultan, correspondent for news-based TV programme 'Ankhon Dekhi' Syeedian Shafi have been killed in militant strikes in the state.
Senior journalist Zaffer Meraj survived a militant attack with timely medical aid after unidentified gunmen pumped bullets into him on the Srinagar-Baramulla Road.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said an investigation has been launched to track the pistol-toting militants who abducted the journalist.
