Killing of Burhan Bashir Bhat

On 19 September 2015, three-year-old Burhan Bashir Bhat was shot by unidentified gunmen while walking home with his father in Sopore, a town in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Burhan was shot three times during the attack and died in the hospital the following day, 20 September 2015.

Burhan's father, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, was also killed in the same attack. Reports stated that the father had been part of the militant organization Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen approximately 15 years prior to the killing. The identity of the gunmen who carried out the shooting remains unknown, and no individuals have been publicly charged in connection with the deaths.

Following his death, Burhan Bashir Bhat became a symbol in media coverage of the broader regional conflict in Kashmir and of concerns about a lack of governmental accountability. Commentators drew comparisons between Burhan and Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish ethnic origin whose death by drowning in the Mediterranean Sea during the Syrian refugee crisis drew significant global attention and outrage. The comparison reflected an attempt to draw similar public attention to the killing of a child in the Kashmir conflict.

The killing prompted a political response from separatist leadership in the region. Hurriyat separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani called for protests on 20 September 2015 in response to the killings in the Kashmir Valley. Subsequently, the Hurriyat Conference organization called for a strike to protest the killing, which disrupted everyday life across the Kashmir Valley.

No perpetrators have been identified or brought to justice for the deaths of Burhan Bashir Bhat and his father.